Always Love
by AnotherGirlWithAStory
Summary: Every eye in the room turned to Quinn when the blonde slowly raised her hand. "Yes, Quinn?" "I was going to tell you guys…" she started and took a deep breath while fiddling with the skirt on her dress. "Rachel has decided to quit Glee."
1. Goodbye Glee

**Title** : Always Love

 **Pairing** : Rachel x Mike and minor Puck x Quinn.

 **Warnings** :Will contain bullying, mentions of such and some profanities. This fic is set in an _AU_ which means that a lot of things may not go according to the show and the characters may be somewhat _OOC_ because I haven't really gotten a grip around them yet. But I will do my best to keep them in character. I apologize if I missed anything. Enjoy!

 **Characters** : Rachel, Mike, Quinn & Puck.

 **Word Count** : 3, 239

 **Chapter one:** Goodbye Glee

* * *

Michael Chang was really good at blending in. Unlike Puck or any of the other people in Glee he didn't feel the need to get attention from people unless it was about something he felt strongly about. Like dancing. Mike loved dancing and when he danced he _wanted_ people to see him. Because he was never as much in control over things as when he was dancing and that he wanted to be recognized for. _The control._

Mike also prided himself in being extremely observant. That didn't say much in the current company. Granted, his fellow friends in Glee were extremely talented but none of them could claim that they were even the slightest bit observant. If they were they would have noticed that someone was missing.

When Mike stretched his hand up in the air Mr. Schue looked like he was going to choke on the air he was breathing.

"Yes, Michael?"

Even his friends looked as if him speaking was a miracle on its own. Mike ignored them and fought the impulse to sigh deeply.

"Where's Rachel?" he asked.

It took a few seconds before people reacted and then their only reaction was to look around in the room. It took a lot for Mike not to roll his eyes again. It was as if they didn't know Rachel Berry at all. If she had been there then she wouldn't have been quiet. They wouldn't have been able to miss her. Also, how could they not have noticed that the most brightly and uniquely dressed person in the room _wasn't there?_ Every eye in the room turned to Quinn when the blonde slowly raised her hand.

"Yes, Quinn?"

"I was going to tell you guys…" she started and took a deep breath while fiddling with the skirt on her dress. "Rachel has decided to quit Glee."

Laughter. That was the first reaction. And it came from various places across the room. Kurt Hummel, Santana Lopez and Mercedes Jones laughed the loudest.

"As if…" Mercedes managed to say while still laughing.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed and struggled to breathe. "That would be too good to be true."

"Besides, why would man hands quit? That would mean that someone else would get a solo for a change." Santana added before continuing to work on her nails. Brittany nodded from the chair next to her. Mike wasn't entirely sure that she knew what was going on. The ditzy blonde, as loveable as she was, rarely did.

Mike could tell that Quinn was getting more aggravated by the second. Her knuckles were slowly turning white as her grip around the dress tightened and that famous ice queen expression took its place on her face. It was an expression that only meant one thing. _Run._

"It doesn't matter why she quit." She stated and glanced at the people in the room ending with him and Puck. "She had a decision to make and she decided to quit. There's all there is to it."

Puck leaned over towards Mike. "Something's not right."

Mike nodded in agreement. Not only was it a shock to find out that Rachel had quit Glee but it was a shock that she had chosen Quinn Fabray out of all the people in the world to pass the message to the rest of the club. None of them seemed to believe what they were being told. Not even Mr. Schue who every now and again looked at the door of the auditorium as if he was expecting Rachel to walk in.

"You didn't know about this Mr. Schue?" Mike asked. This time hardly no one reacted when he spoke.

"This is the first time I've heard about this." He said and shrugged. He must have realized that there was a lot of confusion and discouragement in the group because he forced a smile on his face. "I realize this isn't optimal guys but we'll make it work. With or without Rachel, we can win this year too. There are a lot of strong voices who can take the solos until I figure out what's wrong here."

Puck laughed out loud and that earned him several glares from the likes of Mercedes and Mr. Schue. Mike put his hand in front of his mouth to hide the smile that broke out.

"Are you kidding me?" Puck asked but didn't wait for anyone to answer. "Without Berry, we are fucked. She is the most talented of us and she is the only reason we got to the finals last year. Hudson's horrible dancing could only be carried up by the pipes on that girl."

The protests came within seconds and amongst the upset voices Mike made out Mercedes saying hell to then no, Santana cursed in Spanish and based on the expression on Mr. Schue Mike was more than grateful that he didn't speak the language good enough to understand what she was saying. Kurt was one of the few who didn't bother speaking but the way he rolled his eyes said more than enough. Puck glared at them with his stone face set firmly on place and didn't look as if any of it was bothering him.

"Settle down guys," Mr. Schue spoke and the attention were effectively pulled away from Puck. "I realize that this isn't looking good for us. You have every right to feel disappointed about this but Puck is wrong. Rachel Berry is a talented girl but that doesn't mean that we depend on her to win. We can do it on our own, am I, right?"

The shouts lacked some serious enthusiasm Mike thought as he watched his friends. Not that he didn't understand why. Some of them, just as Puck, realized that they were going to lose and without Rachel they probably as he so beautifully had put it were fucked. Mr. Schue didn't seem to notice.

"Great job guys," he said and clapped his hands together. "It was nice seeing you and I will see you again after school for our first practice."

Puck leaned towards Mike again on the way out of the auditorium.

"Something is really fucking wrong. I'm going to talk to Quinn. We need to find out why the fuck Berry quit Glee." Puck looked for the blonde but she was already by the door out of the auditorium and didn't look as if she were planning on slowing down.

"Do you care about why she quit?" Mike asked as he followed Puck out.

" _Fuck no_! I don't care about crazy Berry. I just think that I deserve to know the truth if I'm going to go up on stage with these fuckers and make an idiot out of myself." Puck rolled his eyes and aggressively pushed Kurt out of the way so that he could leave the auditorium first.

Mike followed just behind. He would never tell Puck but he didn't sound convincing at all.

 **GLEE**

Rachel Berry walked into school a whole fifteen minutes later than normal on the first day back. And she did it on purpose. She held her books close to her chest and managed to look at the clock only two or three times during the short time it took for her to get to her locker. By now the cat was probably out of the bag. The news had been shared. The truth had been revealed.

 _Rachel Berry had quit Glee-club._

That was a sentence Rachel never thought she'd hear or even _think_. But there she was. Not only was it a thought in her head it was the truth. She had after a lot of thought just up and left without telling anyone. Oh well, hardly anyone. _Quinn Fabray_ , out of all the people, knew that she was quitting. If anyone would have told her a year ago, that she would have quit Glee by now she would have laughed them straight in the face. _That wasn't an option_. Yet there she was by her locker while the others were still at the meeting.

 _It had been a hard decision_ , Rachel thought. She had thought about it for months before deciding that she was going to quit. Despite the hours, she spent thinking about it Rachel was shocked that she had actually gone through with it. Almost as shocked as she was about the support Quinn had given her. It was _Quinn Fabray_ , she thought several times, _the girl who bullied her relentlessly for years and all of the sudden she was Rachel's biggest supporter._ Not only that but she had told Rachel to wait for her by _Quinn's_ locker. Apparently, she wasn't dropping her like a stinking fish because summer was over.

Rachel walked with her head facing downwards, hoping that she wouldn't run into any of the members from Glee, and almost walked into several people on the short way to Quinn's locker. Her head was spinning with thoughts. Mostly she thought about Glee-club and what kind of reaction her leaving would get from the rest of the members. Quinn's first reaction had been shock. She had resembled the famous painting 'The Scream' when Rachel told her about her thoughts. But the resemblance became smaller the more Rachel explained and when she was finished Quinn seemed to understand.

"Hey Rach," Quinn's voice had the girl look up from the floor and see a small but existing frown on the Quinn's face.

"Hello Quinn," Rachel responded and tried her best to ignore the looks people were giving her. She thought about asking how it went but couldn't seem to get the words out. One part of her was sure of the fact that she didn't want to know and knowing would only make things worse. The other however was too curious to care. "How was Glee?"

Quinn gave her a look and sighed deeply. "Dramatic. Schue didn't even give us a theme for the week. He was too busy trying to create order out of the chaos that erupted when I told everyone you decided to quit."

"Oh."

"You haven't changed your mind, have you?"

" _No_ ," Rachel shook her head. "Absolutely not! I've made my decision and I'm going to stand by it."

"That's good, Rach. I'm proud of you." Quinn picked up her books and held them with one arm when she slammed her locker shut. "So, as we agreed I didn't tell anyone why you decided to quit. I just told them that it didn't matter."

"Good."

"But you may have to come up with a good lie." Quinn continued. "And you need to do it fast."

"Why is that?"

Quinn looked at a point over Rachel's shoulder making the girl turn her head around. What she saw caused her to give a tiny shriek and without another word she hurried down the corridor. She had just enough time to tell Quinn with a shout that she was going to their first class and they would see each other later. Quinn didn't know if she was going to laugh or cry at the sight.

"Where did Berry go?" Puck asked the moment he and Mike arrived at Quinn's locker.

"She said she was going to class." Quinn eyed him. _He was always good-looking but nowadays she knew there was more to him than just good looks_. "Is there a reason you're looking for her?"

"Cut the crap, Fabray." Puck didn't snarl at her anymore and that annoyed voice, _almost whining_ , was about as far as he would take it when she made him irritated. "I think we deserve to know why she's leaving us hanging with this bunch of losers. If we're going to make complete idiots out of ourselves then we should at least know why."

Quinn's cell phone vibrated and she began frowning from looking at the screen. "Yeah sure!" she said sounding distracted. "Look Puck… Mike… I've got to go. But I will see you guys later."

Neither of the two boys had time to object before she was walking down the hallway tapping away on her phone while she held the books in a tight grip underneath her arm. Puck glanced at Mike who still looked as confused as he had when it had first been announced that Rachel was quitting Glee-club. Puck didn't blame the guy. Other than himself and Quinn, _himself because he was all-knowing and Quinn because well who knew_ , no one could have guessed Rachel was even thinking about quitting.

"Are we going to give up?" Mike asked.

"Of course, not," Puck answered as they headed down the hallway to their first class. "Like I said, I want answers and I'm going to get them some way."

 **GLEE**

Rachel had received a text message from Quinn, short after running away from now Noah and Mike, telling her that they were determined to find out why she was quitting Glee. That in combination with the possibility of being cornered by the other members of Glee put Rachel on her toes when it was time for lunch. And really who could blame her? Rachel chose a table at the corner of the room. Her eyes were glued to the floor while she walked. She knew she couldn't avoid them forever but she could at least lessen the anxiety that came with the confrontation by not seeing them until it was too late. She recognized that was faulty logic but didn't really care that much.

 _I'm on my way! – Quinn_

Rachel sighed. She had her headphones in her pocket and longed to put them in so that she could disappear into her own little word if only for a moment. She looked at the entrance of the cafeteria. At some point, she was going to have to face the other member of Glee. Rachel knew that. She was hoping it would happen when Quinn was with her. One could say a lot of things about Quinn Fabray but she was more than capable of standing up for herself and the people around her. Rachel was normally very good at that too but at the moment her mind was pointing in another direction.

"Hey Rachel,"

She looked up from the spot on the table to which her eyes had been glued to. "Oh, hello Michael." The girl who had never suffered from stage fright or being nervous in general suddenly felt her mouth go dry and her palms were sweaty. "How was your summer?" she asked to push the inevitable question to another time.

"It was good. How was yours?" Mike leaned his hands onto the chair and tilted his feet back and forth. Rachel had always thought he had a nice smile. He was one of the few football players who never did anything to her – well her and Matt – and because of that Rachel was a bit sweet on them so to speak.

She shrugged. "It was acceptable."

"That's good." Mike nodded and when he was looking the other way Rachel threw a glance at the entrance again. "Can I sit?"

She could see Quinn standing there with Noah. Though Rachel wouldn't say they had been friends for very long she could still see the look of pure annoyance on Quinn's face. It wasn't up to her normal standards of glaring because it was Noah standing in front of her but it was scary enough.

"Yeah sure Michael," Rachel said somewhat distracted. "Be my guest."

Mike swallowed several times but didn't speak until he noticed where Rachel was looking. "So, Quinn told everyone you were quitting Glee. But she didn't tell us why."

Based on the look on Quinn's face she was winning and Noah would soon enough move out of her way. Maybe then they could go somewhere else. Rachel, who prided herself in being good at improvisation, had no lie to tell. The only thoughts that existed in her mind at that time was the truth. And she wasn't ready to reveal it.

A hand on her hand made Rachel look away from Quinn and she turned her attention to Mike. The expression on his face could only be described as waiting. Maybe some part of him thought that he could convince her to tell him the truth but Rachel wasn't sure.

"Uh, that's because I asked her not to tell you." Rachel said and saw out of the corner of her eye how Quinn and Puck made their way across the room. Quinn were still arguing with him but her words didn't seem to make any difference. He rolled his eyes a couple of times but that was it.

"Why?" Mike spoke again and caught her eyes.

"It doesn't matter." Rachel answered and pulled her hand away from him just as Quinn and Noah stopped by their table and she became silent.

Noah looked at her with wide eyes as if she was some kind of cartoon or even a ghost. People had looked at her in many different ways but never like that and for a moment Rachel wondered if she had something between her teeth. That was of course impossible since she hadn't had her lunch yet. Quinn didn't look happy and shot daggers at Noah with her eyes. As brutal as she could since it was _him_.

"Berry, what are you wearing? Where's the crazy colors and the ugly animal sweaters? Where is your skirts?" he asked loud enough to earn the attention of many in the cafeteria.

"I'm wearing clothes, Noah. As for the pieces of clothing you mentioned I believe they're home."

"What the fuck? Why are you talking like that?" if they hadn't been standing in the middle of the cafeteria then the situation would have been hilarious. Judging by the way Noah reacted it was as if someone had come back from the dead. "I can understand you. Why aren't you using big words?"

Mike pushed his chair back and looked at her with a frown that made Rachel squirm. "I'm going to get some studying done. I'll be in the library."

"Rachel, come on…" Quinn said. "Ignore them and stay. You need to eat something."

"I'm okay, Quinn." Rachel gave her a smile. "I'm not that hungry anyway. I'll see you in class later."

"Rachel…" the brunette didn't stop but headed out of the cafeteria with her food still on the table. Quinn turned around to glare first at Puck and then Mike. "Why did you have to do that? I told you it didn't matter why she chose to quit in Glee today."

"It matters Fabray."

"No, Puckerman! It doesn't matter why she chose to quit. Rachel Berry quit Glee and you should respect that." she snapped and showed him that having a baby didn't in anyway make her less of an ice queen if she was needed to. "No if you excuse me, I need to do some damage control."

Quinn glared at them one last time before heading out and Mike almost fell off his chair from the pure anger that shone at them. He had never been stabbed but Mike was sure that was pretty much how it felt. Metaphorically speaking of course.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Mike asked. "I think we should let it go. She obviously doesn't want anyone knowing."

"Let it go?" Puck scoffed and sat down next to Mike. "The Puckerone isn't about to let _anything_ go. Especially not this."


	2. The Truth

**Chapter two:** The Truth

 **Word Count** : 3, 239

* * *

Puck refused to admit defeat. On Saturday morning, he stood outside of the Chang-household waiting for Mike to get his lazy ass down the stairs. He had told Mrs. Chang that it was about an assignment for school and hoped that Mike wouldn't as much as breath in a way that could reveal his lie for what it was. The plan was to find out why Rachel had quit Glee before the week was over. But that had proven to be a bigger challenge than Puck had first anticipated. The brunette must have been the fucking master at hide and seek when she was a kid.

Puck swore on his unthreatened title as the most badass person ever to have lived that he knew the school like the back of his hand. And somehow Rachel Berry managed to sneak away from him. That was the reason Puck decided to unannounced drop by the Chang-household.

It was a bold move that he could admit. Especially since Mrs. Chang wasn't happy about a certain grade Mike had just been given and felt that he needed to spend all the time he could studying but there was no way in hell the Puckerone was going to find the answer to end all mysterious by himself. He needed his bro with him. One of them anyway since the other fucker decided to move to another state. Puck cursed under his breath. Someone – his mother maybe – had once told him that there was a rational side of him that he needed to listen to more often. Puck decided not to and demonstrated by putting all his energy into sometimes illogical things. Like finding out why Rachel Berry chose to quit Glee.

He had said that he was going to find out why by the end of the week and technically it was the end of the week. Mike – unlike Puck – looked as if he had been up for hours. And thought his mother had told him Puck were waiting outside that didn't stop Mike from looking confused.

"What are you doing here man?"

Puck put his sunglasses on. "Get in loser, we're visiting Berry."

"Berry? As in Rachel Berry?" Mike grabbed a pair of shoes but didn't put them on.

"Yeah Chang. Do you know any other berries around here?"

"Fuck you man." Mike thought about telling Puck that he knew about the blueberry and the raspberry but decided based on the expression on Puck's face that it was no time to joke. Besides, it was a fucking horrible joke. Mike took one step into the house and looked towards the direction of the kitchen. "I'm going to Puck's place, mom. We need to finish this project. I'll be back tonight. You can call me on my cell phone if you need me."

"Tonight?" Puck asked as the door closed behind Mike.

"Dude, this is Rachel Berry." He said as he got into the car. "Do you know anyone as stubborn as she is? If you think she's just going to tell us without resistance, then you're dumber than I thought."

"Fuck, you're right."

"I know I am." Mike scoffed and changed the music on the radio. He ignored the glares from Puck when he chose just the kind of music he knew Puck couldn't stand. "Do we know if she's even home? The girl has more hobbies than… someone who had a lot of hobbies."

"You're really good with words Chang, I'm shocked you don't have a girlfriend."

"You don't have a girlfriend either."

"Yeah but that's different." Puck said scoffing. "I don't want a girlfriend."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Mike rolled his eyes but couldn't hide the smile that appeared on his face. "So, do you know if she's home?"

"No."

"We're going there anywhere?"

"Yes, we are."

 **GLEE**

Rachel Berry loved a lot of things. That would probably come as a surprise to most people but that was the truth. She loved musicals, acting and belting out in powerful storytelling songs but that wasn't all she loved. Rachel also loved photography. In the beginning because she saw the knowledge as useful for the future when she would most likely be the target of many paparazzi photographers. She saw the benefit of knowing how to work a camera just as she saw the benefits of knowing her good angles from her bad. The hobby had grown into something more pretty quickly and soon Rachel realized she was learning things simply because she wanted to. She loved going for walks to take photos and experiment with the different settings on her camera. Sometimes she would use her astonishing ability to convince people to make Quinn go with her so that Rachel take portraits. Quinn was an excellent model.

Since the beginning of the summer she was also getting more interested in dancing. All sorts of dancing. Not just ballet. Rachel often stayed behind after practicing ballet and looked at the people attempting to learn contemporary dance, tango and many other sorts of dancing. She was mesmerized by the way they felt the music and simply let themselves go. Rachel could never do that. But she wanted to and that's why she and Quinn had joined several dance classes at the local studio.

Quinn had stayed over from Saturday to Sunday since Rachel's fathers were out of town and Rachel was just changing her clothes when someone knocked on the door. Quinn was lazily sitting in the living room with a book cradled in her hands waiting for Rachel to get ready so that they could leave for their dance class.

"Quinn, can you get the door?" Rachel called as she put on a grey hoodie and some black tights.

"Sure." The blonde replied and let out a sigh as she put the book on the couch next to her. That chapter had been intense.

"Quinn."

Her eyes widened. "Puck… Mike. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Puck repeated her question with an emphasis on you.

"I'm hanging out with Rachel." Quinn replied sounding as if she was talking about the weather. Puck and Mike had seen the two girls spending time in school but that didn't mean they were completely used to the friendship two seemed to have all of the sudden. "But more importantly what are you doing here? You can't be here!"

"I told you in school, Fabray. We deserve to know why the fuck Berry is leaving Glee-club." Puck said with a growl, sounding about as brutal as he could possibly get considering the company. And that wasn't very brutal at all. But who was Mike to burst the man's bubble. "Now get me the midget!"

The three teens became quiet when they heard someone humming a familiar song combine with the sound of someone walking down the stairs. Quinn glanced between the hallway where Rachel would show up and then back at Puck and Mike. Mike looked towards the hallway while Puck faced her ice-cold glare just looking a tiny bit bothered by it.

"Quinn who was that at the door?" Rachel stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Mike and Noah standing by her door. For a moment or two it almost appeared as if she had seen a ghost and then she forced her face into a smile. "Hello Michael, Noah! What can I assist you with today?"

Mike leaned over to Puck. "I could totally understand her."

"Yeah, it's very fucking scary." Puck mumbled back ignoring the way Quinn rolled her eyes. "Midget, we're here because we need to know why you left Glee-club. And don't give me all that crap Quinn has been feeding us all fucking week. Because I don't give a fuck if the reason doesn't matter because we deserve to know anyway."

"Okay then Noah, Mike." Rachel took a hesitant step forward. She glanced at her cell phone which she was holding in her hand. "Since we are almost late for dance class I am going to tell you that I quit Glee because I came to the realization that my vocal capabilities were much better needed elsewhere. I met with the coach from another Glee-club and they told me that it was acceptable for me to go to our school while practicing and competing with them."

Puck looked at Quinn. There were no emotions on her face. Rachel had a stiff smile on her face. Rachel was lying to them.

"Which Glee-club?"

"Vocal Adrenaline." Rachel answered without missing a beat. "Now, if you excuse us we should really get going. That dance teacher of ours doesn't approve of her pupils being late."

Rachel took another step towards them and let out a sigh of relief when Puck moved to the side and gently forced Mike to do the same.

"Thank you." Rachel motioned for Quinn to follow her. "Have a great day."

"You too Berry." Puck replied as she locked the door, gave him a smile and then walked over to where her car was parked. Quinn eyed Puck suspiciously and made the sign meaning that she was watching him before hurrying after Rachel to her car.

For a few minutes, until the car had left the driveway, the two boys stood still outside the door.

"Where are, we going now?" Mike asked eventually.

Puck chuckled and glanced at his friend. "Dance-practice."

 **GLEE**

"Well that didn't work as we hoped." Quinn said while they were warming up in the studio. Rachel glanced over at her from her position next to the wall where she was stretching her legs. "Puck didn't buy it. It was so obvious by the way he looked when we left. And he wished you a good day, how obvious can the man be?"

"So, you're saying that because he was being polite to _me_ , he was lying?"

Quinn frowned. "No, Rachel. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I know Puck and he's not polite to anyone. He's not wired that way. He doesn't too polite to anyone."

"He's polite to you."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "He's polite to me sometimes. And I'm the mother of his child. See? You have to have a human child with that man for him to treat you like a decent human being." She sighed deeply. "Puck is a great guy but he's a teenager with some serious issues. You can't expect too much."

"Maybe you should?" Rachel asked finishing up her stretches.

"Should what?"

"Maybe you should expect more from him?" Rachel held up her hand for Quinn to stay quiet. "Listen to me. All his life people have never expected him to do well. People have expected him to fail in school, to not be a good enough football player, to become a teen dad and late they'll assume that he's going to end up staying in Lima for the rest of his life. So far, he's ticked off quite a few of those boxes. Maybe what he needs in order not to tick of the last one is for someone to not expect him to?"

"That's pretty smart, Rachel." Quinn admitted.

"Oh, you know me." She tapped the side of her head. "I can be intelligent when I want to."

 **GLEE**

The dance studio was an old gymnastics hall that had been changed into a dance studio. It really was too big to be a dance studio and that was the reason that the bleachers had remained. It was a memory from the time when the gym had been used for completely other things than dancing.

"So, Chang… what are we watching?" Puck leaned back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Dancing." Mike answered which earned him a scoff.

Mike leaned forward and looked down on the dancing girls. Rachel and Quinn were in the middle of the group. They were both doing good and moved with ease without struggling with going from one move into another. Mike knew he wasn't supposed to be surprised but he was. He knew they were decent dancers but this was proof saying they were much more than just decent. Rachel was in constant control of her body and occasionally would glance over at Quinn who in a way seemed even more at ease than her brunette friend. It was all in the details. The way Quinn moved her body in a way that put her in control while still being comfortable while Rachel were simply in control and perfected each move.

"I know that idiot." Puck hit the back of his head. "Which one of our girls is better?"

Mike raised an eyebrow at the term our girls but didn't say anything about it. "Technically Rachel. But Quinn is more comfortable."

"How can you tell?"

Mike shrugged. "Why do you want to know?"

The roles were now reversed and Puck was the one shrugging. Mike leaned back and tore his eyes away from the dancing. That was harder said that done. For as long as Mike could remember he had always been fascinated by dancing. He loved watching people dancing but not as much as he loved dancing himself of course.

"If you think we're going to get some answers out of Rachel today then you're probably going to be disappointed."

"Why is that?"

"Because neither will be telling us the truth." Mike said and looked over at Puck. "Think about it man. We are not friends with Rachel Berry. And if you're even thinking about telling me that I'm wrong then you're a fucking liar because you know that I'm right. That's the reason she's not going to tell us. We're not her friends."

"So, you're telling me that we need to be her friends before she tells us the truth?" Puck smirked.

Mike sighed. "That's not what I'm saying but if that's the only thing you heard then fine by me."

He crossed his arms over his chest and glanced down at the girls again. Quinn were now in the front of the class with a guy's arms around her. She easily followed his steps and every movement she made was a part of the last. It was like watching the ocean. Though it appeared as if the movements were working against each other they were somehow connected in perfect synchronization. Rachel had a frown on her face as she tilted her head to the side while watching.

"But man, if we're going to do this then you need to tell me why you want to know so bad why Rachel quit. And I don't want to hear that bullshit lie you keep telling everyone."

Puck's eyes followed Quinn's every movement and fiddled with his hands while he thought. "I don't know." He eventually replied. "I have no fucking clue why I want to know. I think it's because of Beth. If she found something she loved more than anything and all of the sudden chose to quit that, then I would want someone to care enough for her to find out why even if she didn't want to tell people."

"Okay." Mike nodded. "That's a good reason." He added and they fell into a comfortable silence.

 **GLEE**

Rachel watched from the back when Quinn were being led around the room in a dance by their male teacher. The lessons sometimes focused on the girls only doing their steps and advancing those steps and sometimes they would dance with the guys to learn how to move together. Quinn was amazing when it came to both. She somehow trusted her body and trusted someone else with her body in a way that Rachel could never do. She was captured by it and curious but as soon as Rachel felt a hand slip too far down for her liking she would just stop moving.

"Have you heard about the competition?" Rachel jumped at the sound of their female teacher Mrs. Bell. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

Mrs. Joanna Bell was in her mid-thirties. She married very young and after having danced professionally with her husband Mr. Christian Bell the two had decided to settle down in the city where Joanna grew up and started working as dance teachers. Rachel had been present when it had been announced that they were going to start working there and she could tell already then that they were going to be a great asset to the studio. Rachel took lessons that they taught separately but she preferred when they worked together. Thought she loved dancing Rachel sometimes enjoyed watching the couple dance more.

"That's okay." Rachel said with a smile. "I've heard about it but I won't be participating."

"And why is that?"

"Because I don't have a partner." Rachel lied through her teeth. Though it wasn't the first time she told a lie she had to admit that it didn't feel good. Most of the time Rachel could justify her lying but this time she believed that her so called reason wasn't good enough.

"What if I could find you one?" Mrs. Bell asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No, Mrs. Bell that's okay but thank you very much. I don't feel as if I've improved enough to compete. But you should ask Quinn if she wants to join." Rachel glanced over at the blonde who had stopped dancing with Christian.

Quinn laughed loudly at something he was saying and dried the sweat out of her forehead with the back of her hand. Rachel could never understand how she did it. One moment she would be following him around as if he was the sun and she was merely one of the planets that circulated around him. She would let him touch her and still look as if she was in complete control. Then in the next moment they would be laughing and acting as if none of it happened. As if they hadn't been dancing one of the most sensual dances you could ever attempt to learn. They had merely run into each other grocery shopping or at the gym.

"I already have." Joanna answered and smiled. "She's dancing with Sam."

 _Sam Evans_ the only guy in the class to dance about as sensual as Christian did. Even though you weren't allowed to have favorite partners and all teachers preached being able to dance with anyone that didn't stop the girls from desperately wanting to be paired up with him.

"They dance well together." Rachel said with a smile. "I'm very excited for their performance."

"Are you really?"

"Of course, I am." Rachel said and nodded. "Quinn's my friend. I want her to do well."

Quinn walked over and joined them. "What are we talking about?"

"We are talking about you and Sam and how I'm really excited to see you guys perform at the big competition." Rachel said and offered her a big smile.

"I was also trying to convince Rachel to join." Joanna added and ignored the tired expression on Rachel's face.

Quinn clapped her hands. "That sounds like a great idea. Come on, Rachel. It'll be fun."

"I don't have anyone to dance with." Rachel said looking between Joanna and Quinn.

"You can dance with Chang." All three females looked towards the bleachers where they saw two young men. One that they all had seen before and one which only Quinn and Rachel had seen.

Puck had a huge smile on his face and looked as if he had just won the jackpot. Mike on the other hand looked shocked with his eyes wide-open and his mouth shaped as a circle. Rachel almost wanted to tell him to close it so that the flies wouldn't get in but didn't have the time since Puck punched his shoulder and made him close it.

"Yeah, you can dance with me." He said with something that was supposed to be enthusiasm. "Come on Berry, it'll be fun."

Rachel was going to say no. Or no thank you. But she sure as hell wasn't going to say…

"Yes." Quinn said before Rachel had the chance to answer. She looked directly at Puck with her most calculating expression. "She'll do it. Why don't you meet us outside in an hour and we'll tell you more about the competition? We need to shower and stuff."

"See you outside." Puck said and they walked out of the studio.

Once the door closed behind them Rachel turned to Quinn. "What was that? I have no desire to be in this competition and I especially do not feel inclined to dance with Michael Chang."

"I know you don't Rachel. But these guys are up to something and we are going to find out what. The best way of finding out what is to get closer to them."

"Why can't you just get closer to Noah?"

Quinn sighed. "I can't do that. He knows me too well. It has to be you and Mike. He'll never expect it. Please Rachel?"

"Fine, but I do not like this plan." Rachel snapped. Both girls were momentarily reminded by the presence of their dance teacher when Joanna coughed.

"I'm not going to ask what that was about." Joanna said with a smile. "I just want to know if this means that you'll participate in the competition?"

Rachel sighed and nodded. "Yes, yes, it does."


	3. Dance

**Chapter three:** Dance

 **Word Count** : 3, 239

* * *

"This was a bad idea, Quinn." Rachel hissed as she stood outside of the school. Her hair was put back in a ponytail and she was already in her dancing gear as were Quinn who watched Rachel move from side to side. "I don't want to join the competition. I don't want to dance with Michael. I don't…"

"I get it, Rach, you don't want to do anything." Quinn said nodding.

"If you get it Quinn then why are you making me do this?" Rachel sighed and leaned her head against Quinn's shoulder.

The blonde gently patted Rachel's head and smiled into the school. She could barely make out Puck and Mike amongst the crowd of students trying to make their way out of the school as quickly as they humanly could.

"Why is it so important to find out why I quit Glee?" Rachel sighed again. "I just wanted to quit. I didn't want to do it anymore. It's not as if they liked me very much anyway. I thought maybe they'd be _happy_ that I wasn't around to bother them anymore."

Quinn felt her throat tighten. _She_ had been one of those people who had wanted Rachel out of Glee. She used to be one of those Rachel spoke about when she said _they'd_ be happy. What a difference a summer had made. It only took one moment for Quinn to give Rachel a chance. And it took two kind words for Rachel to forgive Quinn. That thought rarely escaped Quinn's head. It was sad in a way she couldn't explain. Quinn was sure that it would take months before Rachel forgave her. She believed that it would take so much more than merely _apologizing_. But that had been it.

"What are you thinking about?" Rachel asked still leaned against Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn hesitated. "How truly sorry I am for the way I treated you."

Rachel sighed deeply and stood up straight. "How many times do I have to tell you? Quinn, you don't have to apologize for that stuff anymore. I've forgiven you, okay? I'm not angry for anything you've done to me in the past. That's all way behind us okay?"

"Yeah," Quinn shrugged. "But I still feel bad about it sometimes." – she held up her hand to stop Rachel from interrupting – "…and I will apologize until I don't feel bad anymore. Okay?"

"Sure," Rachel said sighing. "You really have a thing about apologizing, don't you?"

Quinn gave out a meh and shrugged.

"Do you know what else you can apologize for since you're on a roll?"

"What?"

"For getting me into this mess."

 **GLEE**

"Are you ready to dance with crazy Berry?" Puck asked when he leaned against the locker next to Mike's. The locker made a loud noise in protest against the weight that the material must have thought was too heavy to carry.

Mike rolled his eyes. He couldn't claim that he was looking forward to dancing with Rachel but then again, he wasn't not looking forward to it. It was just dancing. If there was something Mike knew he could do without much preparation it was dancing. He was on the other hand nervous about being the one in charge of finding out why Rachel quit Glee. Because yes, Puck had given that responsibility to him.

"It's only logical." Puck claimed at lunch that day while pushing in protein in the form of too much meat than could be considered healthy. Coach's orders. "You'll be spending all this time with her. All you have to do is randomly ask her questions about Glee and if she misses it. Use those puppy dog eyes Chang and you'll be fine. She'll melt like fucking butter in the sun."

"So, you've noticed them too." Mike replied with a smirk.

"What?"

"My puppy dog eyes!" Mike laughed. But only until Puck opened his mouth and graced Mike with the very vivid image of what meat look when it was almost completely chewed. After that Mike wasn't hungry anymore. Despite the fact that he was eating something vegetarian.

Mike had told him between classes that he wasn't good at this stuff. He wasn't as smooth as Puck was.

"No one is, Chang." Puck had said with a laugh until he realized that was not the time to joke. "Relax man, all you have to do is dance and talk to the girl. This is Rachel Berry, after a while the weight of keeping a secret will crush her and she will tell the first person in sight. We just need to make sure that you're that person."

"What are you going to do while I do the hard work?" Mike asked.

"I'm going to make sure that Quinn doesn't ruin our plan." Puck looked across the hallway where Quinn and Rachel were walking next to each other. Quinn and Puck shared a smile that lasted a few seconds and then Quinn disappeared around the corner into her next class. "That's hard work, dude. Anyway, I'll see you after school for a nap. I'm going to the nurse. I fucking hate math."

Just like Puck said they did see each other after school. Puck appeared out of nowhere looking much less sleepy than he had just an hour ago, when he asked if Mike looked forward to dancing with Rachel. Mike shrugged and closed his locker. Much more careful than Puck had with his own. The boom that appeared when he closed his locker was probably heard on the other side of the school.

"I still think this is a horrible idea, man." Mike admitted.

"I know you do." Puck held his phone in front of Mike's face. "You've sent me about ten texts saying that you don't think this is a good idea. And let me tell you, these texts are pretty clear, which means that I get what you're trying to tell me. You don't like this idea. Well, too bad Chang, suck it up."

"You do realize what happens if this gets out?" Mike said leaning against his locker. He saw Mercedes, Kurt and Tina from across Puck's shoulder and looked down on the ground. Puck turned around and glanced at them and acknowledged them with a nod.

"Yeah, people will assume that you and I are making a joke out of Berry and people will love us even more." Puck said with a shrug.

"No- wait, what?" Mike frowned.

"Chang, if people see that we're hanging out with Berry they're just going to think that we're doing some fucked up shit to screw with her life. Seriously, who the fuck would believe that we were hanging out with the crazy person for any other reason?"

Mike nodded. He had a point. "Okay, if you say so. You ready for this man?"

Puck laughed out loud. "Am I ready for this? Fuck no, Chang, you're on your own." And with that Puck laughing walked down the hallway towards the exit of the school.

 **GLEE**

Rachel and Mike stood alone in one of the many rooms of the studio. It wasn't as big as the room Michael had seen her dance for the first time and was mostly used when one or maybe two couples needed to work a bit extra on something. Rachel stood on the other side of the room warming up with different stretches and movements. Her face was directed to the floor or rarely the mirror. If they ever managed to look at each other Rachel turned away almost as if she was afraid he would kill her.

 _That fucker Puck_. Mike thought angrily as he finished his warmups. _What the fuck had he gotten himself into?_ He loved dancing but he didn't love dancing with Rachel Berry. If she was half as bossy in dance as she had been in Glee, then Mike would want to throw up at the end of every practice.

"So," he took a deep breath and turned around to face her. "Cuban ballroom dancing. How good are you at that?"

Rachel tilted her head to the side. A blush appeared on her cheeks. Mike almost thought he was hallucinating. This was not the Rachel he was used to. He was sure she would go into how her body was made for this kind of dancing and then in detail tell him about the enormous experience she had since it was needed to become as good as Barbara Strei… something. But Rachel did no such thing.

"I'm decent, I guess." She said and shrugged. "You've been doing this type of dance longer than I have. I think you're the better judge of that."

Mike nodded, somewhat confused by her reaction. "Do you have any ideas for a routine?"

"Well…" Rachel took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. "Obviously, we need something to showcase our strong sides. I'm better with the technically difficult parts that require precision. But I'm assuming you're more into street dancing?"

"Hey Rachel," she tore her eyes away from the spot on the roof and Mike gave her a soft smile. One that he never thought in his life he would have on his face when looking at Rachel Berry. "I'm not dangerous you know."

Rachel laughed. "Of course, not, that would be silly." She hummed to herself while she walked towards Mike where he stood in the middle of the room. "So, maybe we should just dance and see how it goes? Then we can come up with a choreography for our next practice?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good."

 **GLEE**

Sam Evans was a blond guy with a perfect Bieber haircut, a big smile and beautiful big eyes. He looked like the nice-guy around the corner with the killer body whom for some magical reason knew exactly how to use it. Too bad Quinn wasn't into him. She loved dancing and generally hanging out with him. But that was about it. There was no attraction. No deep desire to kiss him or do anything else with his lips other than seeing him smile. Thankfully he felt no such desire to do anything with her either.

"Beautiful dancing Quinn."

"You too, Sam. Good work!" Quinn said giving the blond a hug. "I'll see you on Saturday."

If someone would have told Quinn a few years ago, that she was going to be a dancer. The kind of gladly gave up cheerleading and social events to practice, go to the gym or run in order to become better then she would have laughed in their face. But Rachel Berry had convinced her to give dancing a chance. And then, much like an addict, she was hooked. It took only a few weeks until she was learning two or three types of dancing at the same time and still felt like she could make time for more. It was an amazing fix. One that made her feel like a real teenager again. And she needed that, so bad. She needed to do things because she wanted and not because it was the responsible thing to do.

Quinn dried the sweat of her forehead with the back of her hand as she sat down on the bench outside of the dance studio. Her muscles were aching and even sitting down made them protest. There was obviously some muscle that didn't like that position. She greedily drank from the bottle and leaned even lower. Quinn would have been scolded if her mother saw her sitting like that. Somehow her mother would be able to see it as being harmful for their reputation. Then again, having a baby as a teenager probably caused unfixable damage to one's reputation. Quinn doubted that could be fixed.

"Who was that?"

Quinn jumped and glared at the man who had sneaked up behind her. "Don't scare me like that Puck." He sat down next to her and repeated his question. "That was my partner. His name is Sam Evans."

"He looks nice." Mike nodded. Quinn frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that for?"

"Nothing," Quinn said hesitating. "I just thought… I thought you were going to say something else."

"Like what?" Puck smirked. "Like, I'm going to kick his ass. Like, you should stop dancing with him? Or maybe something along the lines of Quinn, women, Puck, man – Quinn, Puck's woman. I don't blame you if you did. Most people have similar thoughts about me. I'm just a Lima-loser."

He said the last words with a much darker voice and though he laughed when he was done there was no real joy in it. When Quinn didn't laugh back at him he eventually became quiet but kept looking at her. Silence with most boys were uncomfortable. Quinn often felt a need to say something, anything, to make it stop. But silence with Puck wasn't like that. Maybe it had been before _Beth_ , or maybe it hadn't. It didn't really matter.

"I don't think you're a Lima-loser." Quinn said after a while and felt her heart get lighter as the smile on Puck's face grew. "So, what are you doing out here anyway? Were you waiting for someone?"

Quinn looked towards the door. She knew Puck had hooked up with several of the girls that went there. It wouldn't shock her if one of them walked out and straight into his arms. Puck had that effect on many girls. Regardless of what he did to them for some reason they all came running back when he opened his arms. Quinn wasn't like that.

"Yeah," Puck said and found himself on the receiving end of a cold glare which he ignored. "I'm waiting for Mike."

A faint blush appeared on Quinn's face. But only for a moment until she frowned. "Are they still in there?" she took her cell phone from her pocket and looked down on the small screen. Other than a text message from Rachel there were several from Mercedes, Santana and Brittany all pretty much saying the same thing. And it wasn't nice things.

"Yeah," Puck nodded. There was no way they would get away with saying nasty things about her. Not when he was around. "So, how long have those assholes been bothering you?"

Quinn frowned. "Oh, since school began pretty much. Apparently, I'm now a traitor and a bunch of other shit. They're not happy with me being friends with Rachel whom they hate more than ever since they found out she quit. They also want to know why, but it's none of their fucking business."

"Do you want me to deal with it?" Puck cracked his knuckles and felt his heart soar as Quinn laughed. "Just give me the word and I'll make sure those fuckers never go near you again."

"No, thanks Puck." Quinn laughed again. "I'm handling it like an adult. If it amuses them to taunt me or nag me about why Rachel quit Glee, then I say we let them. As long as they're not bothering Rachel."

"So, when we asked Rachel why she quit… It wasn't hard to tell that she was lying." This was not the time to ask why Rachel had chosen to quit. But then again there never was a good time to ask. Quinn avoided his eyes. "Why did she quit?"

Quinn sighed deeply and looked at him with a sad smile. "That really is none of your business. And I'm not going to tell you because you won't stop talking about it. Just leave it alone Puck."

"You know I can't do that. Come on Quinn, it can't be that fucking bad. You're acting as if someone died or some shit." Puck said with a sigh that brought back Quinn's ice queen glare in full power. "Fuck no, please don't tell me I was right? Tell me no one died because then guessing that would just be fucking… wrong."

Quinn shook her head. "It's nothing like that. No one died."

"Well fuck Quinn, what can be so bad that Rachel tells only you?" Puck gestured wildly around him. "There are very few fucking reasons that are so bad that Rachel drama queen Berry would hide it. Like her being pregnant."

Puck's eyes widened. "Holy fuck is she pregnant? That would be too good to be true. Rachel Berry being _pregnant_."

"Oh, my god, are you fucking serious right now." Quinn's sigh was deeper than any other sigh ever before. There really were no words for this man stupidity. God, he made it so hard for her to expect things from him sometimes she thought and stood up. "I'm going to go now before you come up with another stupid suggestion. I'll see you in school Puck."

The blonde walked away before Puck knew what to say and he was left alone by the bench until the door to the studio was opened with a boom that had him put his hand over his chest. Not that he would ever admit that. Rachel stormed out closely followed by Mike whose face was red and not only from dancing Puck assumed. Rachel hissed something that sounded much like goodnight Noah and hurried towards the parking where Quinn were already sitting in her car. It took only a few moments before the car drove off but not until Quinn sent a famous ice queen glare their way.

Puck crossed his arms over his chest and turned around. Mike breathed deeply as he paced the ground.

"So, how bad was it on a scale from one to ten?"

"Fucking terrible." Mike spat. "I swear to god that woman sucks out all the fun in dancing. How the hell am I supposed to dance with her for eight weeks without killing myself in the process?"

"What did she do?"

"She wouldn't stop moaning and bitching about my dance steps. She told me _my frame is too weak, my back isn't straight enough and my overall dancing isn't correct enough for fucking ballroom dancing._ God, she is so fucking annoying I don't know what to fucking do with myself. I can't dance with her. We need to come up with the fucking answer for this mystery you're so obsessed with some other way."

"I'm going to ignore that you called me obsessed. Put for your information Chang, the Puckerone doesn't get obsessed. I get answers, revenge or get even." Puck sat down on the bench again and pointed at Mike to sit down next to him. "But I get what you're saying. And I may or may not have found out why the midget decided to quit Glee."

Mike's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am Chang, now if you're looking for the truth," Puck hit his hands together. "You've found the right guy. If you would step into my office, I'll give you exactly what you need. I happen to know from very certain sources that Miss Rachel Berry is pregnant and that's the reason she quit Glee."

"That… sounds like such a fucking lie." Mike said as he sat down on the bench. "Come on man, that's not it. That's like something straight from some worthless romance novel that my mom likes to read."

"Why does that sound like a lie? What else would Rachel fucking Berry let get in the way of her bright and shining future on Broadway or what the hell it's called."

"Are you serious? A baby? Rachel?"

"Yeah and maybe she doesn't want the father to know." Puck's eyes widened with every word he spoke. "Fuck, I'm good at this."

"Doesn't sound like Rachel." Mike said.

"There's one way to find out." Puck added. "One thing we could do to find out if we are right."

Mike rolled his eyes. "What's that?"

Puck smirked again. Bigger than before. "Well Chang, I'm glad you asked."


	4. The Sound of Rumours

**Chapter four:** The Sound of Rumours

 **Word Count** : 3, 239

* * *

Rachel glanced away from the board at the front of the class. She couldn't shake away the feeling that someone was watching her. And when she glanced to her left side she saw Artie looking at her for a split of a second and then he looked away. When she looked to her left one of the football players was eying her but unlike Artie he wasn't too bothered with being caught in action.

Rachel felt a blush covering her cheeks and she returned her attention to the Spanish words on the board. People had been watching her all day and she couldn't for her life figure out why. She wasn't wearing her colorful clothing anymore and sure she expected people to notice that. Just not four weeks later.

She hadn't taken an active choice not to wear her usual outfits. She hadn't pushed them in the back of her closet and opted for the clothes that had always been there. She just didn't feel like standing out. She didn't want people to be able to spot her out in the crowds quite as easily as before and with that in mind she opted for tight long-sleeved shirts in black or grey, skirts either in denim or flowy material in the same colors and most often black leggings. She thought about putting her hair back but chose to let it flow around her head like a curtain protecting her against the world. But the change of clothes had been four weeks earlier. It couldn't be that.

And since the clothes couldn't be the cause of this attention Rachel thought there was something on her face and attempted to look for something by looking at herself through the reflection of her cell-phone. She couldn't see anything. But then again it wasn't the best way to go about finding something either. She would just have to find Quinn and ask before her next class.

The irony that Rachel now considered Quinn her best friend didn't go unnoticed. She sometimes found herself thinking about the fact that the world must have turned upside down for Quinn Fabray to be her best friend. In a sense one could almost claim that it had. No one expected Quinn to get pregnant when she was just a teenager. She was beautiful, talented, athletic and intelligent. She would do great things before settling down at the appropriate age with the perfect man and then have a perfect child. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant now with some Lima-loser as they all believed Puck was. But then again, no one believed Rachel would ever drop out of Glee-club either. Maybe the world really had turned upside down at some point during the summer without them noticing.

Rachel was one of the first people out of class when it ended. She ignored the looks people gave her, took her books and then glanced over to see if Quinn was there. When she saw the blonde, she hurried over to her locker and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Good morning, Rachel Berry." Quinn spoke after offering her a smile. "How are you today?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. They had seen each other that very morning before the first class. Since then Quinn had received multiple texts about the fact that Rachel believed people were watching her. At some point, Quinn had gotten quite annoyed and merely written god, give me strength.

"People are watching me." Rachel said and went straight to the issue at hand. "And not watching as in oh my god you have such weird outfits or you are about to get a slushy in your face. They're watching me as if they think something's up and they're trying to figure out what."

"That's oddly specific, Rach." Quinn said while she looked through her locker with a frown on her face. "You're probably just imagining. I mean people don't even notice you anymore."

Rachel nodded. So many words were left unspoken. People didn't even notice her anymore because she wanted it to be that way and people didn't notice her anymore and that was to a certain extent a shame. But Rachel waved her hand in front of her as if removing those sentences and moved on.

"Yeah, I thought so too. This morning I was sure that you were right." Rachel looked at all the students that passed them by in the hallway. They weren't even trying to hide it anymore. "Do I have something on my face? Did I get a piercing in my sleep last night? Or maybe a tattoo? I have a very high threshold for pain and I'm a very heavy sleepwalker. It could happen."

Quinn's locker was slammed shut and the blonde raised her eyebrow at Rachel. "That's just silly. No one does that in their sleep."

"While I can admit that was silly I won't back down from the fact that people are staring at me. Look!"

Rachel tilted her head to the floor and the moment that happened everyone else looked up. Even Kurt and Mercedes who had vowed never to speak nor look at the brunette again since she left them. They had, as everyone else, realized that Rachel leaving wasn't the best thing for the club. They had yet to try and get her back. They weren't desperate enough yet.

"I can see what you mean." Quinn admitted as they entered the classroom. "I'll deal with it after class."

 **GLEE**

Quinn Fabray was on the warpath. These days she only used her ice-queen stare when it was needed and today was definitely one of those moments. The man whom the glare was reserved for seemed to feel her approaching from across the hallway and even from that distance he looked nervous to say the least. People walked out of her way as Quinn marched down the hallway and she made her glare stronger by thinking about what this imbecile, this stupid boy had been saying about her best friend.

It wasn't hard finding out what had been said and who had started the rumor. Thought people were supposedly trying to hide that they were spreading the rumor or discussing it Quinn had noticed what they were doing quite easily.

So, the first thing she did after class ended was find the four people who would know exactly what was up. Brittany, Santana, Mercedes and Kurt were caught up in a discussion that had Santana threatening to go Lima Heights on someone's ass. They spotted her from quite the distance and looked at her as if she was something stuck underneath their shoes the entire time.

"So, what rumor have you four been spreading across school now?"

Brittany was the first to open her mouth but Kurt and Santana put their hands over it before she could say something.

"We weren't supposed to tell her, remember?" Santana asked and removed her hand once Brittany nodded. She then turned her attention to Quinn. "Feels bad, doesn't it? Being out of the loop? Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Quinn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fuck you, Santana."

"You've grown quite the mouth, Quinn." Santana said with a mocking smile on her face. The kind Quinn had seen more than she could count but only on a few times had she been on the receiving end. She almost understood why people were afraid of Santana when she looked like that. "Almost makes me believe that you've spent a lot of time with Puckerman. But you couldn't have, because I have."

"Whatever _Satan_ ," Quinn turned her attention to Mercedes and Kurt as she realized trying to get the truth out of Santana and Brittany was useless. "If you two don't tell me what kind of rumor you've been spreading about Rachel I will make your life miserable and those two" – she pointed at Brittany and Santana – "won't lift a finger to help you. So, what's it going to be?"

It took a few seconds of Quinn doubting that her threat was going to work and then Mercedes answered her question and told her the rumor and who had started it. That earned her a glare and a punch from Santana who once more muttered something about going Lima Heights on her ass for not knowing when to shut up.

Quinn's breathing came shorter as she felt anger take over. "Thank you." She spoke sweetly and began walking down the hallway with an ever so present ice-queen glare that grew stronger when she saw him. Quinn walked faster and felt thankful that Rachel wasn't by her locker and stopped when she reached Noah Puckerman.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" she hissed and tried to ignore the looks people were giving them.

"Do what?" Puck leaned against his locker.

Whenever he was confronted he rarely felt truly threatened or afraid – especially not afraid - because there was always a major difference in height and weight. To his advantage. But that didn't matter when Quinn was the one doing the confronting. She was scary regardless of any height and weight difference.

"Don't play stupid with me, Puck. I am not in the mood." Quinn poked his chest. "Why did you start a rumor saying that Rachel is pregnant?"

Puck's eyes widened. Quinn could see the wheels turning around behind his eyes as he frantically thought about what he was going to say. If she was one of his normal girls – the ones that didn't know him – then she would have bought his dramatic act. But she did know him. And Quinn knew that when he exaggerated his reactions he was only trying to gain time and it was not going to work. Not on her.

"I would never say such a thing."

"Give it up, Puck." Quinn said and glared at him with a disgusted expression on your face. "I talked to the gossip club and they told me that you started the rumor. I wish I could say I was surprised and disappointed but I'm not because this is just like you. I just need to know why you did it?"

Puck sighed after a few seconds. There was only one facial expression worse than the angry ice-queen one that was special for Quinn and that was the disappointed one. The one that said I thought you were better. It never failed regardless of how many times Puck had received one of those looks.

"We wanted to know why Berry quit Glee."

Quinn let out a frustrated groan. "Is this what this is all about? She wouldn't tell you why she quit Glee and now you're spreading rumors. What did you think would happen? That she would hold a fucking press conference to make sure that the entire school knew the truth?"

"Not exactly like that…" Puck admitted.

"And what did you mean when you said _we_?" Quinn added. "I thought it was only you. Who else has been spreading this rumor?"

"Mike."

" _Fucking Mike_." Quinn hissed. "When I get my hands on that son of a…"

She stopped talking when Puck put his hands on her shoulders and she glared at them as if they were something poisonous or out of this world until he removed them.

"Wouldn't things just get easier if you convinced her to tell people?" Puck held his hand up to stop her from talking. "Look, people have been targeting you like crazy and they have started realizing that without Rachel we are fucking doomed. They thought we were a team and we were in this together. Rachel should tell us why she quit if not because of that very reason but so that people stop fucking going after you."

"People are going after you, Quinn?"

The blonde's eyes widened. She knew exactly who that voice belonged to. It was the person she on purpose had kept in the dark about what she was going through at Glee practice. Because she knew that _this person_ would go against her own decision if Quinn needed her to. She wouldn't need to ask.

"Yeah," Puck answered when Quinn just stood there staring at Rachel.

"Do you think they would lay off if I told them why I decided to quit?"

Quinn shook her head. Puck answered yes.

"Well then," Rachel said nodding. "I guess I'll see you after school then."

She returned her eyes to the floor and began walking down the hallway. Quinn let out a deep sigh that made Puck put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me, Puckerman." Quinn pulled away and glared at him with as much anger as she could muster. "I hope you're happy now. Congratulations, you fucking did it."

She gave him one last glare before running down the hallway. The last thing Puck heard was Quinn calling Rachel's name. He watched for a moment as the blonde pulled the brunette in her arms. Then he turned around and walked the other direction. The plan had worked. He was supposed to feel really good about this. They had succeeded. And for some reason he felt like shit.

 **GLEE**

Rachel absentmindedly walked down the hallway towards the auditorium where she was meeting the Glee-club. She thought about quitting the entire summer before making a decision the night before school was starting again after summer. It wasn't just one thing that made her come to that decision. Several events over the course of her entire academic life and life outside of school had eventually led her to this moment and this decision.

Rachel knew exactly which day the thought manifested inside of her head in the shape of words but couldn't for her life say when the feeling that she maybe wanted to quit appeared within her.

Was it when she couldn't sleep because her heart wouldn't stop beating and that giant ball of anxiety inside her stomach wouldn't resolve itself? Was it when her grades stared slipping because she kept falling asleep when she was supposed to study? Was it when she suddenly lost her appetite and could no longer work out as much as she wanted because she had no energy what so ever?

Rachel couldn't say. It could have been any of those moments. Or maybe it was when her birthmother chose to adopt baby Beth. And by doing that joined the long line of people who decided not to choose Rachel. Or maybe the last straw was drawn when Rachel saw the people, she believed was her friends after they won the competition, having fun and spending time together without her?

Maybe it was all those things in its entirety. Rachel believed it was.

"Hey," Quinn said falling into the rhythm of Rachel's steps. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Rachel replied with a shrug. She could tell by the look Quinn gave her that she didn't believe her. "It's not optimal I'll admit that. I didn't want to tell them why I chose to quit but if it's going to get them to stop harassing you then I'll tell them."

"But you do realize that you don't have to? I'll be fine you know. I can handle those _weaklings_."

Rachel laughed. "I know you can. But you shouldn't have to. Just let me do this for you, okay?"

Quinn sighed deeply. "Okay." She gave the brunette a smile. "But remember that you're doing this on your terms. You don't have to tell them everything. And whenever you feel like you're ready just tell me and we'll leave."

"Okay." Rachel's smile faltered as they reached the auditorium.

"Don't forget to breathe." Quinn whispered just before they entered the auditorium.

Their entrance caused everyone to become completely quiet. Rachel had to fight the urge to look down on the floor under their hard, cold glares. They were all spread on various chairs. Only Finn looked completely surprised by her presence and the rest of them looked as if they were trying to burn her using only the collective power of their minds. Puck and Mike sat furthest back in the room. Rachel avoided looking at Mike the most. She couldn't even think about the practice they had without feeling a blush take over her face. Quinn sat down on a chair at the first row and gave Rachel a smile.

"Rachel," Mr. Schue seemed to have completely forgotten why she was there for a minute and then realization dawned on him and he faced the rest of the club. "Rachel came to see me and said that she needed to say something before we started. Rachel, the floor is yours."

They all looked at her as if nothing had changed. She was back after exploding in a fit of anger. She had merely taken a break and were now back to singing again. The idea itself caused a shiver to go down her spine. Rachel didn't _want_ to sing anymore. Not right now anyway.

"I wanted to come here and- "

"Tell us you were coming back?" Santana said while looking at Kurt who made a gagging noise.

"No, I was- "

"Here to gloat about your success as a competitive dancer?" Mercedes added and laughed. "No wait, you're not experiencing any success because you don't have a partner and you're a complete pain to dance with."

Rachel looked at Mr. Schue who was quiet and only reacted in the shape of sighs and a various amount of facial expression that told her he didn't like what he was hearing. But he did nothing to stop them.

"I've come to told you why I quit." Rachel said before anyone else spoke. She breathed deeply and without thinking she spoke the words that had been on her mind for such a long time. "I've decided to quit Glee because quite frankly I hate it. I get anxious and I feel like I'm going to throw up every time I think about coming here. Being a part of this club has made me hate singing and I don't want that."

Kurt laughed sounding unsure of himself. "You're joking, right?"

"No?"

"Oh, my god, well that's just typical Rachel Berry."

Quinn turned around and glared at Kurt. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Come on Quinn, even you have to admit that this is typical Rachel. She makes a big deal out of quitting and refuses to tell anyone why which is the only reason why we've been asking you by the way. And when she's put in a corner she comes with this horrible, selfish excuse."

Rachel watched as the people inside the room yet again turned against her. She felt her throat tighten and it became harder to get oxygen into her lungs. She wasn't going to cry in front of them. Never she thought and gave the auditorium one last glance before walking out the solid doors that separated them from the rest of the school. The sound of the door closing made Quinn turn around. Her fists shook with anger and she took the spot where Rachel had previously been standing.

The blonde was known for being beautiful, intelligent and cold when put in front of a problem. She never lost her temper in a confrontation – at least according to most people – and they believed those things because she wanted them to. But they didn't know that there were people Quinn would protect with the fierceness of a lion. Rachel Berry had somehow become one of those people.

"You've just heard Rachel Berry tell the you why she chose to quit Glee. But that was not the entire truth. That was the nice version of the truth but since that didn't go all the way into your thick sculls I'm going to tell you the truth my way; in a lot, blunter and less soft and cuddly way. Are you ready?" Quinn glared at each and every one of them. "You are the reason, Rachel quit Glee. She didn't want to come here every day and face the abuse that you – I'm sorry we – put her through. Now you may think that's not dramatic enough but the shit you've put her through caused more damage than you will ever know. I didn't realize before how bad bullying is or how much the victim is affected. But based on what I have seen I can tell you that her reason to stop is so valid and I will fight anyone who tells me otherwise. You got that? Good!" she became quiet and then turned to Mr. Schue. "And I quit. But unlike Rachel I chose to quit because all of you are cruel fuckers and I don't want any part of this messed up club. That's my reason for you. Mike and Puck didn't even have to start a rumor to get it out of me."

Quinn ignored the expressions on the boys faces. No one objected when she walked out of the auditorium. The smile on her face grew with every step she took away from the auditorium and a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Then Quinn reached for her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart.

"Hey Rachel, where are you?"


	5. Neutral my Ass

**Chapter five:** Neutral my Ass

 **Word Count** : 3, 239

* * *

Mike was quiet.

Puck was quiet.

And both boys were too deep in thought to feel the supposedly awkwardness that was supposed to come with it. Puck couldn't forget the way Quinn looked at him. It wasn't full on ice-queen glare but it wasn't far from. It was in fact the closest to a hateful stare he had gotten since Beth. It bothered him. A lot.

Something was bothering Mike too. But it wasn't the semi cruel glare Puck had been on the receiving end of. It was the way Rachel looked at them after she told everyone why she quit. The arguing began and there were – as per usual – certain comments and words being thrown around carelessly. Rachel heard all of them. She knew they were meant for her. Mike had seen it happen. So many times, before. But he had never watched her. He had never seen as the words hit her. It was like watching an invisible force hit her. Every word was another hit. And the saddest part was the fact that she had no one to turn to. Had it been anyone else they would have looked for support in a friend. Rachel didn't. She just looked down.

Mike sighed and pulled his hand through his hair.

"Fuck, we screwed up so bad."

Puck nodded.

"We need to fix this."

Puck laughed and forced himself up in a sitting position on the bed. "How do you propose we do that?"

Mike shrugged. He hadn't gotten that far yet. "We go see Rachel?"

"And do what?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "We apologize, asshole, have you ever heard of that concept?"

"Okay man," Puck held his hands up, gesturing for his friend to calm down. "I get what you're saying. But we can't just walk over to Rachel fucking Berry and ask her to forgive us. We're going to need to do something bigger than that. I mean you heard the woman. She quit Glee because we bullied her."

"Hey", Mike held up his hands. "You bullied her. And those other assholes bullied her. I'm innocent."

"Yeah asshole," Puck laughed. "There's no such fucking thing. Either you're on the bullies' side – which according to you is me and the rest of those assholes – or you're on Rachel's side. You can't be fucking neutral in this. That's like being fucking neutral in wars; it doesn't work like that."

"Sweden was neutral during World War II." Mike shrugged. "And Switzerland."

"Neutral my ass. Sweden let the fucking Germans use their railroads. I don't know about you but that doesn't sound like something you'd do if you were neutral."

"What about Switzerland?"

"Exception to the rule. Look man either you can admit it and own up to it, you were a fucking asshole to Rachel just like the rest of us. Or you can deny it like a coward. I don't give a shit because no matter what you decide to fucking do we're still going to apologize." Puck looked down on his cell phone. He became quiet for a moment and then smiled. "There you go."

"What did you do?"

"I apologized to man hands." Puck said with a smug expression on his face. "I just got us back in her good graces. You can thank me later."

"You didn't actually call her man hands in the text?"

Puck frowned. "Why, would that be a bad thing?"

Mike let out a sigh that said so much more than words ever could. This apologizing thing was going to be much harder than he thought.

 **GLEE**

They weren't exactly discrete. Or maybe they were and Quinn were just really attentive. Regardless of the reason Quinn knew that Puck and Mike were behind her before they managed to say a word. It had been a week since Rachel told everyone in Glee-club why she chose to quit and she had since then opted for staying home 'sick'. Every morning the two boys had asked where Rachel was and if she would show up tomorrow. Maybe that was the reason Quinn knew they were standing behind her before they said anything. Like clockwork they managed to show up by her locker at exactly 8:10.

"Hello Puck, Mike." Quinn closed her locker and turned around. "She's home sick today too."

"Fuck."

Quinn glared at Puck. "Yeah well, if you don't have anything else to say I'm going to take off."

She only managed to take a few steps before Mike effectively stopped her by standing in front of her. Quinn raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Is she okay?" Mike asked. The sensitivity in his voice didn't surprise Quinn.

Quinn shrugged. "She's tired but other than that she claims to be okay."

"But she's not?"

"Of course, she's not okay. Her confidence has hit rock bottom. She's _voluntarily_ changed almost everything about herself that makes her stand out because she doesn't want anyone to _notice_ her. For god's sake, she's not even singing anymore. And she used to love singing more than anything in the entire world. _We_ broke her and now I'm doing my damn best to fix her again."

"I was thinking about going to see her, ask how she is and stuff like that."

Quinn poked him in the chest in between the words. "Do. Not. Go. See. Rachel!"

Mike took a step back and rubbed the spot where she had poked him. "Why not?"

"Because you, assholes, spread a bunch of rumors about her because she wanted to keep something to herself. I'm assuming that it wouldn't be below you to do the same thing again if she doesn't accept your apology. And now you're sending her these bullshit texts trying to apologize. Speaking off, Puck you're fucking horrible at apologizing. It's painful to watch." Quinn sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. Just stop texting her and don't go see her. I'm going to class. I'll see you guys later."

Mike took one step to the side and allowed the blonde to pass by. It looked as if she wasn't aware of the fact that people were watching her as she walked down the corridor. Or maybe she did but didn't care. That would be more like the Quinn that he thought he knew.

He turned around to look at Puck who raised an eyebrow at him. The fact that Quinn had told him that he was horrible at apologizing seemed to have gone completely over his head. As a lot of other things seemed to do. Most of the times it was only the things that would actually be useful for him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I want you to distract Quinn for me."

Puck scoffed. "While you do what?"

"While I go talk to Rachel."

Puck laughed. "And tell her what? I've tried apologizing like a million times through texts and she hasn't budged yet. What makes you think that anything you have to say will change that?"

Mike smirked. "Because I know how to apologize. Unlike you."

"You're an asshole."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever. So, you'll do it?"

"Yeah, I'll do it." Puck said. "But if you get caught by the ice queen you're on your own Chang."

"Coward."

"That's not being a coward Chang. That's what people would call survival instinct. You should try it sometime."

Mike rolled his eyes and raised the hand he wasn't holding his phone with. _Yeah, maybe sometime._

 **GLEE**

Rachel's phone beeped. Again. She didn't even bother to look at the phone. It was probably Puck. He had for some reason not let one day go by without sending her a text. Rachel had shown them to Quinn and the blonde had raised an eyebrow and told Rachel that was about as sweet as Puck could get.

The first time he had only written; _Look man hands, I'm sorry for fucking everything up_.

It was straight to the point. No moving around the issue at hand. Rachel couldn't quite understand why he thought it would be a good idea to call her midget though but that was a whole other issue at hand.

The second message was sent mere minutes later; _Fuck, I didn't mean to call you man hands. Sorry!_

Rachel had almost laughed out loud at that point. And simultaneously wondered who'd told him that calling her man hands and apologizing at the same time wasn't that intelligent of him. It was probably Mike. The two seemed to have found each other. Rachel both loved it and hated it. She loved it because then Mike wouldn't have to be alone without Matt. And maybe Puck would get himself together. She hated it because them being friends had proven not too good for her so far.

Rachel sighed deeply. It felt like that was the only sound coming from her lately. She couldn't help it.

She was exhausted. It was just after eight in the morning and she had yet to get up. Her cellphone was on the table next to her bed where she had put it straight after calling the school and telling them that she was sick today too. Well technically it wasn't her calling. It was her aunt who had told the school Rachel was out sick but she'll definitely be back next week. _Thank god for acting_.

It was hard getting up. It was _heavy_. And had been for so long that Rachel had almost forgotten what it was like not to struggle to leave the bed in the morning. Just like she had almost forgotten what it felt like to sing. But only _almost_. If she would have told anyone they would have thought she was crazy. _Crazier than normal that is_. Rachel Berry had not gone a day in her life without singing. And now she had all of the sudden stopped completely. _Not entirely voluntarily thought_.

No, Rachel quit because she didn't want to. Because the mere idea of singing anything made her guts churn and a shiver was sent down her spine. She _didn't want_ to sing and that was final. She wasn't about to start because people thought she was supposed to. She wasn't _that_ broken down.

The house was entirely quiet. It wasn't odd that Rachel heard when someone knocked on the door. The first time she believed it was someone who had gone to the wrong house. Quinn was at school. Her fathers were working out of state. Surely, no one had any reason to come around at that time of day. Then whoever it was knocked a second time and Rachel hurried out of bed. She frowned before even making it down the stairs. Her frown was deepened when she saw who it was. She tilted her head when she looked at him and pursed her lips.

"Hello Michael."

Mike scratched his neck. "Hey Rachel. I wanted to come by and talk to you for a little bit."

Rachel frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, but I skipped."

"I can see that." Rachel said. "Why?"

"I told you, I want to talk to you." Mike became quiet. Rachel could tell that his face was slowly turning into some kind of shade of red. A part of her liked seeing someone else feel self-conscious for a change. But the joy only lasted for a brief moment.

Rachel took a step to the side and offered him a smile. "Come in Michael."

 _This was going to be interesting if nothing else_ , Rachel thought as she closed the door behind them.

 **GLEE**

Quinn had a thing for Puck. She knew that. He knew that. The whole fucking school probably knew.

But that did not mean that Quinn Fabray was in any blind to his behaviors. She knew what each and every facial expression he had meant. And the moment she saw him standing by her locker after that first class she knew that he was hiding something. He was _so bad_ at hiding it. _So, bad_ it was almost painful. No, it _was_ painful.

Puck had a thing for Quinn. He knew that. She knew that. The whole school knew that without a doubt.

They did not see the difference between Puck trying to hide something from her and Puck just acting the way he normally does. To her that is. No one reacted when he stood by her locker after the first class. Or the second. Or the third.

Quinn did, see the difference, but it took to the end of the day before she confronted him.

"What are you doing?" she asked once she'd slammed her locker shut.

"What am I doing?" Puck pointed at her locker. "What are you doing? Did someone say something, do you want me to talk to them?"

He flexed his muscles when he said that last part and almost managed to make Quinn forget what she was doing. She barely repressed the smile that threatened to appear on her face.

"No," she said and pushed his arms down to his sides. "I want you to tell me what it is that you've been hiding the entire day. I'm not stupid."

"I haven't been hiding anything."

The answer came so quickly, yet it sounded so calm and almost completely truthful. Quinn tilted her head to the right and frowned at the young man. Much like other boys – mostly Finn – she had used that look on he began squirming after a few moments. It was funnier watching Puck squirm. It was so _unlike_ him. He looked between her eyes and her lips. He didn't do anything. He did not move a muscle. Quinn was impressed. Involuntarily so but impressed never the less.

"Okay then." Quinn said.

Puck stood silent. "Was that it?" Quinn nodded. "You're just going to believe me? Just like that?"

"Yeah." Quinn began walking down the corridor. Puck followed. "If you tell me that you have nothing to hide then I believe you. Besides, I don't really have time for chit chat. I'm going to see a friend. She's in desperate need of some support at the time. A lot of shit has been going on lately."

"Really, who?"

"Rachel."

Puck took ahold of Quinn's shoulder. He didn't even think while he did it. He just acted. He had told Mike that he was on his own. But he hadn't really meant that. He couldn't let Mike face Quinn alone. Quinn was nothing less than a force to be reckoned with. A _scary_ force to be reckoned with because unlike so many others Quinn needed very little to motivation for her to fight for her friends.

Quinn's smile grew. "Yes Noah?"

 _Oh fuck_ , Puck thought the moment he hears her use his real name. He was nothing short of screwed. She rarely used his real name. But when she did it almost made fucking angels appear around his head and it took a lot of his badass-self not to start grinning like a fool right then and there.

"Mike's there."

Quinn hit his shoulder. "That fucker." She cursed and hurried down the corridor. "I told him not to go there. What the fuck is wrong with the two of you Puckerman? Do you have some deep unhealthy desire to make life miserable for Rachel?"

 _Puckerman_ , he sighed. One didn't need to be a genius to figure out that going back to surnames was not a good sign.

"I don't know. At first, we wanted to know why she was quitting. I admit out way of finding out was pretty fucked up but this time I don't think Mike is trying to do anything. I really think he just wants to apologize." Puck was supposed to take books with him so that he could study during the weekend.

His mother's orders and for some reason this time he opted for listening to her. At least he thought about listening to her and he had every intention of going through with her orders. But sometimes things get in the way and when he stood between the choice of getting his books or following Quinn Puck ended up following Quinn instead. She didn't tell him to get out of her car. He took that as a sign that he was free to come with her.

"I mean seriously, I tell you guys to stay the fuck away and you do the exact opposite." Quinn began driving away from school.

"Yeah I know. But Quinn, I really think that Mike is just trying to apologize this time. He just wants to make sure that she's okay."

Quinn glanced over at Puck, it wasn't hard to tell that she didn't believe him. Then her eyes caught something. "Seatbelt Noah."

Puck didn't hesitate to put it on. She wasn't speeding but there was something in her eyes when she spoke. Some kind of protectiveness he had only seen few times. The kind of protectiveness that came out when Quinn was needed. The way Puck saw it, there was protectiveness and there was _protectiveness_. Quinn was the latter. She was protective of the people she cared about only when they couldn't protect themselves. Only when they didn't seem to think about doing things to make sure that they were safe. She was not some kind of bodyguard ready to take a bullet whenever she was needed but she was ready to help people she loved when they could no longer help themselves.

"You would have been a good mother:" Puck said softly. He couldn't tell where it came from.

Quinn smiled at him. She hesitated for a while before she spoke. "I expect things from you, Noah." She said softly. "I know a lot people don't. A lot of people assume that you are going to fail but I want you to know that I _expect_ you to do great things. Because I know you _can_."

Puck would never admit to it. But that comment made his heart soar more than hearing her call him Noah. He would never admit that he looked away because his eyes were filled with tears. And he would definitely never _ever_ admit that he began crying when he felt Quinn take his hand. _Never_.

"Do you want to go talk somewhere?" Quinn asked after a while. He nodded. "Okay, we'll let Mike and Rachel talk. If you say that he just wants to apologize, then I believe you."

Puck nodded again. "Thanks Quinn." He replied sounding somewhat horse.

He could hear a smile on her face when she replied. "You're welcome Noah."


	6. That Mike

**Chapter six:** That Mike

 **Word Count** : 3, 239

* * *

"Tell me again what happened."

Rachel rolled her eyes and forced herself to look at Quinn as she drove them both to school. Rachel couldn't claim that she was looking forward to coming back but skipping school for two weeks was a little too much in spite of her current situation.

"He said that he was sorry. They had no right to force me to tell anyone why I chose to quit and then he said that he thought it was sad that I didn't feel like I could be myself anymore and that he hoped that I would eventually feel like I could."

Quinn scoffed. "That Mike…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Quinn shrugged. "I have no idea. I just get really annoyed every time we talk about this."

"Then why do you keep asking me to tell you what he said again?" Rachel frowned.

"Because…" Quinn scoffed again. "I have no clue why I want you to keep telling me. I only know that I was hoping that he was going to tell you something more than just sorry. Maybe I was feeling a bit idealistic at the moment and hoped that he would go all out and by all out I mean John Hughes all out."

"You wanted me to experience something that could have happened in a 1980's movie?"

"Yes, and I figured if anyone was going to make that happen it was going to be Mike."

"So, why the sudden idealistic feeling?" Rachel asked and glanced at Quinn. The blonde's cheeks had quickly turned into a violent shade of red. "Could it have been because of a certain Noah Puckerman?"

"Noah Puckerman makes me feel the very opposite of idealistic." Quinn hissed. "He makes me feel so angry sometimes that I don't know what to do with myself."

"I agree about the not knowing what to do with yourself part… not the anger." Rachel said and smirked at Quinn. The blonde was not amused. "Look Quinn, I'm not saying you love the guy or anything. But you have a daughter together. He will probably always mean _something_ to you."

"Yeah," Quinn nodded. "Trouble."

Rachel didn't bother answering her. She returned to looking out the window and allowed her thoughts to soar away while Quinn hummed and occasionally sang whichever song was playing at the moment. Mike really had only come to her house to apologize. Rachel had been hesitant. She thought he was going to tell her something else. Maybe he would ask her to come back to Glee. But he didn't. He just said that he was sorry and those words alone had Rachel feeling better than she had in a long time.

 _"_ _I forgive you, Michael." Rachel spoke softly from the chair where she sat in front of her desk._

 _Mike sat on her bed, fidgeting with his hands while his eyes skipped between her and the floor. When she said those four words however he looked up at her with a smile on his face. Rachel had never noticed before that Mike had a crooked smile. Not in an obvious way like Finn but it was crooked. He released a deep breath._

 _"_ _I'm so happy to hear you say that." He sighed again. "I thought for sure that I was going to have to crawl in the dust or something. Not that I wouldn't deserve it but I was just not looking forward to it."_

 _"_ _Is that what people think of me?" Rachel asked in a low tone. "That I like making people crawl in the dust. Do people assume that I have some kind of superior complex?" Mike hesitated. "And don't lie."_

 _"_ _I don't know." Mike raised his hands in defense as Rachel gave him a disappointed look. "I know that people think you're high-strung and stuff like that but I don't know about what you just said."_

 _"_ _Oh," Rachel nodded. "I don't know why I asked. I mean I know these things. I know what people are saying about me. It's not like it's changed for the past years or so."_

 _Mike shrugged. He could tell her that they were wrong. But they weren't wrong. Rachel could be so obnoxious sometimes it wasn't even funny. She could make people want to – in the words of Noah Puckerman – put themselves on fire. But Mike couldn't tell her that. He wasn't going to tell her that. So, he opted for looking around her room. Like the awkward teenage boy that he was. That's when his eyes caught something._

 _"_ _Hey, is that…" he glanced at Rachel. "What kind of music do you listen to?"_

 _Rachel shrugged. "I listen to pretty much everything. Why?"_

 _"_ _May I?"_

 _Rachel nodded her head, not really sure what she had just agreed on, and watched him cross the floor of her room. He stopped when he reached her curtain and moved it slightly to the side revealing a stack of albums that were not musicals. Mike sat down in front of it and took the first album in his hands._

 _"_ _Tupac…" the brunette laughed and walked over to sit next to him on the floor. "You listen to Tupac?"_

 _"_ _I happen to appreciate the emotion he puts in his songs. He also happens to be a very good actor and I believe him to be an excellent example of a person that can categorize himself as both an actor and a musician." Rachel took another album. "I think Ice Cube is pretty good at that too."_

 _Mike nodded and the smile on his face grew as he looked at Rachel._

 _"_ _What are you looking at?" she asked feeling a blush appearing on her face._

 _"_ _You," he said. "You just surprised me that's all."_

That Rachel hadn't told Quinn. Not that she didn't want to. She just wanted to keep it to herself. Not that there was any reason to. It didn't mean anything, _right_?

 **GLEE**

"Quit jumping around man, sit still!" Puck hissed. "You're making me nervous and the Puckerone does not get nervous."

Mike nodded and forced himself to lean against the locker next to Puck. "Sorry dude." He did try to stand still but it appeared to be impossible because seconds later he was fidgeting with his fingers.

"Okay, what's going on? What did you do? I thought you made things alright with Rachel last night?"

Mike nodded.

"Then why the fuck you acting like a twelve-year-old girl about to see the boy she's crushing on?"

"Just because I said I was sorry doesn't mean that she's going to want to dance with me for that stupid competition."

"The competition? You still doing that?"

Mike shrugged. "I was going to ask her if she wanted to."

"Why?" Puck asked.

Mike shrugged again. "Why not?"

 **GLEE**

"Well, well, well… if it isn't the ice queen."

Quinn didn't have to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. But with her books already in her arms she did. Santana, Brittany and Quinn herself had been referred to as the unholy trio. What she saw in front of her now could only be called the unlikely trio. Santana, Brittany and Mercedes. Too much ego and willpower in the same group. And that was just between Mercedes and Santana.

"What can I help you ladies with?" Quinn asked.

"We were hoping that you could tell us what your baby's baby mama is doing here."

Quinn frowned. "Wait, what? My what's what?"

Brittany nodded. "That's what I said too."

Mercedes shushed the blonde and got given a glare from Santana. "What is Shelby Corcoran doing in this school? I thought she was working at that private school with all those snobs."

"I thought she was too." Quinn said still frowning.

Santana sighed. "Let's go. This is useless. Blondie looks more confused than Brit did when asked if the chicken or the egg came first."

Brittany looked up at the roof. "That was tricky."

The trio were just about to turn around when Quinn took a step closer. "Wait, why do you care about what Shelby is doing here?"

Santana pursed her lips. "You'll find out. Eventually."

 **GLEE**

Something was up. It was hard not to notice really. The dramatic way that the Glee kids had left their meeting that morning. The way people glared at her in a more vicious way than they had the previous days. It was apparent that something had happened and Rachel had no clue what. She hadn't been able to ask Quinn and whenever she saw Mike or Puck in the hallways they were always heading in a different direction than she was. So, when lunch came Rachel marched up to Quinn's locker where the blonde stood.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked before the blonde had any time to say anything.

"Hello to you too," Quinn said with a crooked smile as she put her stuff into her locker and closed it.

"Hello Quinn, I trust you are doing as well as you were when I spoke to you like an hour ago," Rachel didn't give her enough time to answer. "Now, can you maybe tell me what is going on? People are acting really weird."

"I know."

"You know that something is up or you know that people are acting weird?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I know that people are acting weird. But I have no idea." Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and gave the blonde _that_ look. That look where her lips were somewhat pursed and her eyes pretty much demanded the truth. "Okay, I may have a tiny little idea as to why people are acting like they saw the abdominal snowman wearing nothing but his underwear."

Rachel frowned. "I have no idea what that last part was about but I did understand that first part about you having an idea as to why people are acting weird. Would you like to tell me?"

"No," Quinn responded. Much to Rachel's surprise.

The brunette didn't even try to hide it. Her eyes widened and she opened and closed her mouth several times as she tried to come up with something to say. But it felt as if her brain had all of the sudden decided to stop working. The only words she could come up with at the spur of the moment were nothing but nonsense that would get her nowhere.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure if it's true and if it's not true then I'd feel terrible for telling you." Quinn sighed. "Can we just go to lunch? We could ask Noah and Mike if they know anything?"

" _Noah_?" Rachel couldn't help but ask.

Quinn rolled her eyes but couldn't hide the smile on her face. "I meant Puck."

"Sure, you did." Rachel said with a smirk and laughed. "I'm pretty sure that you meant Noah. Maybe you shouldn't have been interrogating me this morning."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I thought you were the smart one, Quinn." Rachel said with a teasing tone in her voice. "It means that maybe something more interesting happened between you and Noah. You are very welcome to share."

Quinn grabbed a tray and then picked from a number of various foods. Occasionally, she glanced up at Rachel. "I am not sharing anything."

"But you want to." Rachel said as she picked all the vegan options. "I can tell."

Quinn sighed again. "I am not telling you because there is nothing to say." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rachel open her mouth. "Hey, speaking of talking. Mike apparently told Puck that he was going to ask you if you were interested in the dancing competition? Have you talked to him about it yet?"

"Yeah," Rachel said nodding. "We talked about before he went to Glee. Exactly before to be specific. And I'd tell him that I would think about it."

Quinn frowned. "Why would you have to think about it?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to think about it. It's what I do. I don't make hasty decisions, as you should know by now."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I probably should."

She turned around and faced the rest of the students in the school. Quinn – prior to being friends with Rachel Berry – thrived in the attention she was given by the rest of her classmates. Nowadays it annoyed her to no end but whatever she did nothing seemed to make them less interested. She saw a few of her former friends from Glee-club glaring at her as if she was something disgusting stuck underneath their shoes. Quinn ignored them. And then she laid eyes on Puck and Mike sitting by their own table at the end of the room. Far from the football team, hockey team, Cheerios and the members of Glee. _Perfect_. Rachel didn't question her when she moved across the room. Quinn expected some kind of annoyance when she opted for sitting down next to Noah – leaving an empty chair next to Mike – but nothing.

"So, spill Puckerman." Quinn said and took a bite of her sandwich. Carbs was a strict no-no when she was a Cheerio and now that she wasn't anymore carbs seemed to sneak their way into every meal of the day. "What's going on with Glee?"

Noah seemed to be at loss for words. He glanced at Mike and Rachel. "Are you two dancing in that competition or what? I need to know if I should mark my calendar so that I can support my brother Chang and my fellow sexy Jew. I'm a very busy man you know."

For a moment, no one spoke. Quinn squinted at Puck but when Rachel realized that he wasn't going to answer she nodded her head.

"Uh, yeah," Rachel shrugged. "I mean if you're up for it? I'd like to give it another go. It didn't exactly go well the last time but maybe this time it'll be better?"

Mike nodded. "It'll be awesome."

Quinn watched the two with a smile. It was hard not to react in any other way. She didn't know if she was good at telling when people were lying or if Mike was just unusually bad at lying but she could tell that something was very different. Just like she could tell that something was very different with Noah. Quinn squinted at her. "So, what happened in Glee this morning that has everyone acting like aggressive piranhas?"

Puck looked first at Mike and then back at Quinn. He opened his mouth several times, shrugged his shoulders and for the first time in her life Quinn saw a little bit of Finn in him. That awkward side that came out whenever Finn didn't want to tell the truth. _Maybe they were rubbing off on each other_.

Puck leaned closer to her. "I feel like we should talk about this somewhere else."

Quinn frowned. "Does just outside the cafeteria work?"

Puck frowned but nodded. "It's good enough. There's way less people out there and we've got way more accessible emergency exits."

The blonde got up from her seat first. She offered Rachel a smile and then began navigating her way through the crowd with Puck just behind her.

"Where are they heading?"

"Probably to talk about why people in Glee are acting so weird." Mike shrugged. It took less than ten seconds for Rachel to get up from her seat and start moving through the room. "Apparently, we are following them."

With the grace of someone who had danced for his entire life Mike managed to catch up with Rachel before she left the cafeteria. Even if they hadn't heard Quinn's upset voice it still would have been easy to find them. The hallways were completely empty excluding the blonde, Puck and a third person. But Rachel couldn't tell who she was.

"What's she doing here?" Quinn asked. She wasn't screaming but there was no doubt in Rachel's mind that she wanted to.

"I'm here to work. I'm starting a second Glee-club. The school decided that they wanted to put more money into it since it went pretty good the last time." Rachel would know that voice from anywhere. She wasn't surprised when she saw long brown her, like her own shade, a smile and a face with flawlessly applied make-up. Shelby looked up at the same time as Rachel did and she became quiet.

Rachel was somewhat aware of the fact that Quinn, Puck and Mike were all watching her. Almost as if they were waiting for her to explode.

"Hello Shelby." Rachel eventually said without as much as a waver on her voice.

"Hello Rachel," Shelby replied and took two steps closer. There were still meters of space between them yet Rachel felt as if her birthmother had moved just a tiny bit too close. "I was actually looking for you when I heard these two fighting in the hallway."

Shelby gave Quinn and Puck a stern look. Neither looked very affected by it.

"Did you need me for something special? Because I'm on my way to the dance studio with Mike." Rachel glanced at the boy next to her and released a sigh of relief when she saw him nodding. "We have a competition to practice for."

"It won't take long, I can promise you that," Shelby said with a smile. "I spoke to Mr. Schuster this morning and then to the rest of New Directions during their meeting and I was told that you are no longer a member of Glee."

Rachel nodded. "That's correct."

"Can I ask you why? I asked Mr. Schuster but he didn't know."

"You may ask but I don't feel like this is the right time nor the appropriate place to have this discussion. Also, I am in no way obligated to tell you or Mr. Schuster the reason why I chose to quit. I am quite frankly not even obligated to tell my _parents_."

Rachel waited for a reaction but nothing happened. Though she didn't want to admit it a hint of disappointment spread across her chest. She was hoping it would have a little more affect than that.

"You are right about that and I respect your decision," Shelby nodded. "I wanted to ask you to audition for me this Friday. You're a very talented girl Rachel, probably the most talented girl this school has to offer as far as musical theater goes and I would very much appreciate if you considered joining us."

"No thank you," Rachel spoke swiftly and without emotion. "I don't sing anymore."

She didn't give Shelby any time to react. She just turned around and did her best to ignore the way her eyes stung and her heart beat quicker with every step she took. There was no reason to cry she thought as she heard someone run after her. Rachel was going to tell the person who was following her that she wasn't sad at all. When they asked her if she was okay Rachel would tell them yes and they would believe it. The steps slowed down and then matched her speed. _It wasn't Quinn_ , Rachel thought when a hand snuck around her own and clutched it tightly.

"So, are we dancing or what?"

Rachel sighed with relief and smiled at Mike. "Yeah, we are."


	7. Another Friend: Part I

**Chapter seven:** Another Friend, Part I

 **Word Count** : 2, 628

* * *

The second time around dancing with Mike was smooth. Rachel couldn't describe it using any other word and during those moments when she allowed her mind to wander she often thought about dancing with Mike. The way his arms so naturally wrapped themselves around her and the feeling of complete calm that filled her even during the moves when falling meant vicious bruises. All of the sudden dancing became something more than merely moving her body to music. It was more than merely a way of exercising. It became an outlet, a new way she could express herself.

And even if she didn't want to admit it to anyone. Not even herself. Mike had quickly turned into something more than a friend. She didn't feel her heart beat quicker when she saw Quinn the way it did with Mike. She didn't look for Quinn just to make sure that she was there the way she did with Mike. Rachel did a lot of things that she normally didn't whenever Mike was there. She wanted to do a lot of things that never entered her mind before. So far, she'd managed not to fall victim for her desires. Desires that she couldn't understand much less say out loud.

 _Rachel panted when she laid down on the floor with her eyes closed. Her chest raised and lowered itself faster than it ever had before and her heart raced inside of her. Her entire body felt like one big wound and just the idea of moving caused her to let out a disgruntled groan. The music ended and a thud was heard as another body laid down on the floor next to her._

 _"_ _We're done practicing, right?" Rachel asked and tilted her head to the side so that she could look at Mike. "I mean I love dancing with you but I want to throw up and I think I broke something."_

 _Mike rolled his eyes as he tilted his head to face her. "What did you break?"_

 _Rachel scrunched her face together. "Everything."_

 _Mike laughed and she couldn't help but smile at the sound. They had been dancing for four weeks and there were three weeks left until the competition. Not that the competition was on the front of her mind when they were dancing. There were more important things; Mike's laughter for example. The more she heard of it the more Rachel realized that she loved the sound of it. Maybe even more than music._

 _"_ _You're such a drama queen." Mike said and nudged her with his shoulder._

 _Rachel smiled bashfully. "Yeah well, we all have our talents." She became quiet and watched as Mike looked at the roof. His chest raised and lowered itself slowly but surely. His hands rested on his chest and he wore that smile that she had gotten used to seeing._

 _A few minutes later he laughed again. "I can hear the wheels moving inside your head Rachel. What are you thinking about?" He tilted his head back to the side so that he could look at her._

 _Rachel smiled when she saw that familiar dimple. She wanted to stretch her hand out and touch it but managed not to. "You're a really good dancer and you're a really good person. I haven't told you enough but I'm so grateful that you would do this for me."_

 _"_ _You don't have to thank me Rachel." He said and offered her a smile. "Its what friends do."_

 _In that moment, Rachel felt thankful that her cheeks became naturally flushed when she exercised. Because that meant that Mike couldn't see her blushing._

 _"_ _Are we friends?"_

 _Mike nodded. "I'd like to think so." For a moment, they were both quiet and then Mike let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "I hope you don't mind but I'm just going to take a small nap. I can't move."_

 _Rachel laughed not missing the humorous undertone in his voice. "I don't mind." She replied and tried to lie as comfortably as she could against the hard floor._

 _Mike took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Drops of sweat ran down his forehead and hit the floor. His eyelashes flickered against his skin and Rachel saw the way his eyes moved underneath his closed eyelids. Rachel felt her breath get stuck in her throat and her smile grew. Her fingers itched to feel his hair in between them and she wondered what it would be like kissing his lips. The moment those thoughts entered her mind Rachel looked up at the roof, her cheeks redder than normal. She couldn't figure out where these thoughts came from. It felt as if they just appeared overnight for no reason._

 _"_ _Okay, I think I'm all done resting. Do you need a ride home?" Mike pushed himself from the floor with a groan and then offered Rachel his hand._

 _The brunette smiled and nodded as she hoped that Mike wouldn't notice the way she struggled to keep her eyes directed at his face and not his bare, toned upper body. "Yeah, that'd be great."_

Yeah, in hindsight and without the distracting man with her Rachel could see that maybe it hadn't happened overnight. It had been a process but every time they danced her feelings had grown stronger and her wall had slowly but surely lowered itself or molded itself until there was an entrance. A unique entrance in the form of Mike.

Quinn had looked her dead in the eye on night after having finished dance later than normal and said that she couldn't deny that something was different between her and Mike. Rachel had given her a triumphant smile. Apparently, Quinn Fabray didn't know Rachel as well as she told herself. If there was anything Rachel was good at other than singing, dancing and acting it was denial. Rachel would go so far to say that she was brilliant at it. Her mind was if nothing else. Her body on the other hand wasn't.

 **GLEE**

"Hello Michael." Rachel said with a smile on her face as she stopped next to him with her books clutched to her chest. Her brown hair was pushed back in a ponytail – one that could not have been made by any other person than Quinn Fabray herself – that clearly showed her newly cut bangs.

Mike glanced at her as he looked through his locker for the right books. "I told you Rachel, you can call me Mike. All my _friends_ do."

Rachel hummed and smiled. The way she always did whenever he mentioned it.

"You're not going to call me Mike, are you?" he asked as he closed the locker. Rachel shook her head with a big smile on her face. "Yeah I didn't think so either. So, what's up? What have you been up to all day, I feel like I haven't seen you at all."

"I've been here and there." Rachel answered with a shrug. To which Mike gave her an unimpressed look. "Okay, I have been avoiding certain people that I have a feeling will be trying to talk me into doing something that I don't really feel like doing. But they don't really care."

"So, you've been avoiding Mr. Schue and Miss. Corcoran."

"That is correct Michael." Rachel stepped onto her toes to see better but almost fell. She felt her breath get stuck in her throat as she waited for the inevitable fall that never came. "Oh, that's a very nice catch. Thank you."

Mike shrugged. "So, do you need a bodyguard or something?"

"A bodyguard Michael, really?"

Mike shrugged again, this time with a sheepish smile on his face. "Well, it's Glee and both of them are really intense about Glee. It might not be a bad idea."

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, you're right. And for your information, I've always thought that you would make an excellent bodyguard."

"I'm not even sure what to say about that." Mike said with a laugh as they began walking down the corridor. "That either means that you've been thinking about what kind of bodyguard you would need before or that you have just thought about me being a bodyguard and I'm not sure which one I prefer."

"Chose the one you feel is the most complimentary to you."

Mike scrunched his face together. "Did you just give me a compliment?"

"Yeah." Rachel nodded. "I think you look very nice today Michael. See, I just did it again."

"You are beautiful Rachel Berry." Mike said with a laughter. "And when I say that you are beautiful I'm not talking about your appearance even if you're beautiful in that sense too. But right now I meant that your personality is beautiful. I like this side of you." _Thanks for showing it_ remained unsaid.

Rachel hummed. "This is nice."

"Me being your bodyguard?" Mike asked with a laugh.

Rachel chuckled. "Well that too. But it's also really nice to just do this. Walk with a friend to class, joke and have compliments thrown at you instead of slushies. I like it."

She looked straight ahead and missed the smile that took over Mike's face as he nodded. "Me too."

 **GLEE**

"Quinn Fabray."

The blonde laughed and just the sight made Puck's heartbeat increase just a little bit. The more he saw of the mother of his child the more he realized that the world became a bit shinier and just prettier with her in it. "I didn't know we used full names but I'll adapt, Noah Puckerman. Why am I not surprised to see you outside the principal's office? What did you do this time? Please tell me that it wasn't something criminal?"

Noah shook his head. "Not this time Fabray. Believe it or not but this time I was called in for acting like a good boy for once. Apparently, that was enough for the principle to get worried about my home situation. Imagine that? All these years of acting up for attention. All I had to do was behave."

Quinn frowned. "You… kind of lost me after that part about being called in for good behavior. That doesn't sound like you at all."

"Well, I decided to pick myself up and get my act together." Puck replied and self-consciously scratched his neck. "What you told me kind of stuck with me. You know the thing about you expecting things from me. No one's ever told me that before. It was nice. Thank you for telling me."

Quinn smiled. "You don't have to thank me Noah."

Puck smirked. "You just called me by my real name."

"That wasn't the first time. So?"

He shrugged. "I liked it. I just wanted to tell you that."

"Well," Quinn began. "I guess I'll just keep doing it then."

"Well, then I'll keep trying to be better. I think Beth would have liked to know that we made the most of our lives, don't you?"

Quinn nodded. There was a certain tone in his voice that she had never heard before. Puck, Noah, looked at her with a certain expression on his face that wore little resemblance to the smirk he often wore from the moment he walked into school to the time when it was time to leave. Rachel had been right.

 _"_ _I'm telling you Quinn, he's changed." Rachel waited a few seconds after Quinn had turned around the corner before following her. It was almost ridiculous the actions she would take to make sure that she didn't see her mother. "It's something in the way he looks at you. And he hasn't called me Berry since Shelby showed up. That is a very long time for a man whom I assumed didn't even know my first name."_

 _"_ _Yeah, maybe your right." Quinn agreed. "Speaking of Shelby, are you going to act like this for the rest of the year or are you going to face her again at some point?"_

 _Rachel shrugged. "I'm more interested about how you feel about her being here. It's not been that long since you know…"_

 _Quinn smiled sadly as she finished Rachel's sentence. "Since she adopted my baby. It's okay, you can say it out loud. That's what happened. I gave my… our, mine and Noah's, baby up for adoption and now Shelby Corcoran is her mother. It happened, not saying it out loud isn't going to make it less real."_

 _"_ _Your allowed to be sad about it." Rachel said as she opened her locker. "That you made that decision doesn't make you any less entitled to being sad or missing Beth. I'm just telling you so that you know. If you ever want to talk about it, I'll be here."_

 _Quinn felt a warmth spread inside her body as Rachel turned around to face her with her books in her arms. If someone would have told her when she was almost nine months pregnant that she would be friends with Rachel Berry in just a few months' time, then she would have laughed in their faces. But now, the idea of not being friends with Rachel was even more unlikely._

 _"_ _Do you love your birthmother?" she asked after a moment of silence._

 _Rachel shook her head. "I can't say I love her because I don't know her but I still want her to be proud of me for some reason. She gave me this chance and I feel like I want to show her that I took it and did something amazing with it."_

 _"_ _Would you join her Glee-club?"_

 _Rachel laughed but there was no missing the intensity in her voice when she answered. "No."_

"I think she's going to be fine." Quinn said with a smile. Noah nodded in agreement. "So, do you want to hang out after school?"

Noah nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that."

 **GLEE**

"What is this song called?" Mike asked.

He and Rachel sat closely together in the cafeteria with one earphone in either ear as they listened to whatever song that came on Rachel's phone. Up until that point Mike hadn't been disappointed. It was a mixture of 90´s hip hop, rock, ballads, musicals and the occasional singer-songwriter. Pretty much everything that people were sure Rachel had never heard before.

"Cannonball by Damien Rice." Rachel answered without looking at the phone. "I really love the guitar parts on this song. The lyrics are amazing too but I tend to forget them when I listen to the guitar."

Mike nodded. He wondered how he could have missed how much music changed her. When she listened to music Rachel's entire body went lose and all the tension that had previously been the reason that she kept her shoulders pushed – sometimes all the way to her ears as Noah would have said – vanished as if she was always that calm. She gave the song all her attention and noticed details that Mike would never have heard unless she told him about them.

"Can I pick the next song?"

Rachel nodded and Mike took the phone from the table, opened it, and then looked through the list until he found the right one. Mike glanced at her as she bopped her head to the rhythm of a song that she had listened to multiple times before. If he would have been a little bit more brave than maybe he would have told Rachel that song reminded him of her. But he wasn't that brave so he didn't. When Quinn and Puck appeared, and asked what they were listening to Rachel was the one who answered. _Show me what I'm looking for_ by Carolina Liar.

Mike pretended not to notice the look Puck gave him.

And Rachel pretended that saying the name of the song didn't make her blush.

Both failed.


	8. Another Friend: Part II

**Chapter eight:** Another Friend, Part II

 **Word Count** : 3, 066

* * *

Mike held his arms around her waist. Every inch of their bodies was touching and despite feeling tired to the brink of exhaustion Rachel felt as if she could dance with him forever. She didn't mind the ache she would undoubtedly lamely complain about in just a few hours. Rachel didn't mind the pain as long as it was the result of dancing with Mike. He spun her around, his hands finding themselves against her lower back as he dipped her closer to the floor. They shared a smile and then Mike pulled her up.

The music ended. For a few seconds, they just stared at each other. One of Mike's hands were resting on her cheek and the other was on her waist, her hands were holding onto his back and his shoulder. Rachel glanced at his lips. In hindsight, she didn't know what made her brave. It would be good to know so that she could have something to blame but nothing came to mind. But for whatever reason Rachel felt brave. One moment they were just standing there. And then she _kissed_ him.

Rachel groaned loudly as the memory hit her with full force.

"What's wrong honey?" her father asked from outside of the bathroom.

"Nothing dad, I was just reminded of this stupid thing I was supposed to do but I forgot about it."

"Anything I can help with?"

Rachel shook her head, momentarily forgetting that he couldn't see her. "No dad, but thanks anyway."

Her dad didn't answer and Rachel let out a much lower groan this time as she closed her eyes and leaned it into her arms. Even though it was two days ago since the kiss Rachel still couldn't get his face out of her mind. Eyes wide open, his entire body stiff as he watched her with something unrecognizable in his eyes. Rachel felt her cheeks go red just by the thought of it and she wanted to hit her head. Not just because she kissed him out of the blue when they were rehearsing but because of what she did afterwards. The teenager let out a third groan. She was supposed to be calm, collected, mature and have the ability to control her emotions and her actions. Despite all those things she was supposed to do Rachel still kissed Mike and then ran out on him. She fled the field, ran as quickly as her legs could carry her, and didn't realize until she was almost at her house how stupid that was.

All of it was stupid.

She kissed her friend. That was stupid. Then she ran away from him. That was even more stupid. The only thing Rachel didn't know what to make of was the fact that she wanted to kiss him again. Was that stupid?

Rachel opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. Her lips tingled when she thought of the kiss. And a warmth spread through her body as she thought of kissing him again. Rachel smiled sadly at her reflection. She really wanted to kiss him again.

 **GLEE**

Quinn stared at her with her eyes wide open. "You kissed him?"

"Yes."

"And then you freaked out and pushed him away?"

Rachel let out a deep sigh and scrunched her face together. "You don't have to remind me of that part. I feel embarrassed enough about that as it is."

"I'm sorry Rachel but you kissed the guy that you have been crushing on for a few weeks now and then you completely freak out on him because of _one kiss_ and you push him away before pretty much running away from the guy."

Rachel glared at her blonde friend. "I have not been crushing on him for a few weeks."

"You can't still be in denial." Quinn said to Rachel.

They were walking down the corridors. Hidden in plain sight as Rachel liked to call it. No one was paying any attention to what they were talking about. Her cheeks turned into a darker shade of red but she didn't answer. The wheels turned violently in her head and still Rachel couldn't pick anything to say out of the many versions of yes that she had. Because truth be told, she couldn't be in denial about it.

 _It_ , being the fact that Mike wasn't her friend and a part of her didn't want him to be either. She would never be able to pinpoint the exact moment when everything changed but she knew that all of the sudden she was hit with a brick of emotions that she had never felt with the talented dancer before. She enjoyed being quiet for the sake of listening to him speak. She didn't mind giving him the attention instead of taking it for herself.

"Why is it that I don't get to be in denial but you can deny your feelings for Noah all you want?"

Quinn scoffed. "I am not in denial about my feelings for Noah. Especially not now when he's cleaned himself up and really gotten things in order. Did you know that he's actually passing math? He's a lot more mature now. Sometimes it feels like he's more mature than I am."

"Now that's what I call character development."

Quinn laughed. "You've been watching way too much TV-shows and reading too many books. In the real world we call that maturing. We don't call that character development."

"I'm aware Quinn." Rachel replied with a smile. "But character development sounds much better."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Well, speaking of _character development_. Puck tells me that Mike's changed a bit since the two of you started dancing together. He's a lot more vocal in Glee-club."

Rachel frowned. "Vocal?"

"Yeah, he actually speaks his mind instead of sitting completely quiet in the corner of the room." Quinn walked with Rachel to her locker. "Sadly, the others aren't as happy about that as I am. Apparently, they preferred it when he was quiet in the corner and didn't have an opinion and just went with what they wanted."

Rachel felt her heart ache, she glanced at her from over her locker. "Are they being mean to him?"

Quinn nodded her head. "Noah told me not to tell you. Apparently, he and Mike didn't want you to know because they didn't think it was a big deal and a little bit because they didn't know what you would do. But I think you should know. They are acting like idiots because he's defending you."

"Now that's just wrong." Rachel said as she slammed her locker shut. "I am not fine with that at all."

She held her books close to her chest and walked down the corridor. Quinn couldn't help but smile as she followed the brunette towards their first class. She had looked Noah straight in the eyes and told him that she wasn't going to tell Rachel what had been lowkey going on in Glee-club. She had even promised him not to tell Rachel. But as soon as she turned her back on him Quinn knew that there was no way that she wasn't going to tell Rachel. This was her friends chance to show people that she wasn't the person they thought she was. She needed to show this side of her. And Mike needed to see it.

 _Especially now_.

 **GLEE**

"So, she kissed you huh?" Puck asked Mike who responded with a yep and then took another bite of his sandwich. "And then ran away. Geez Chang, I didn't think you were that bad of a kisser."

Mike rolled his eyes. "I'm not a bad kisser. And even if the kiss was bad it was just because I was shocked. I wasn't expecting her to kiss me."

"You weren't expecting a girl that you've been touching pretty much everywhere for the past few weeks to kiss you?" Puck looked up from his books and laughed. "Wow, you really are stupid."

Again, Mike rolled his eyes. This time more intensely then the first. "It's dancing Puckerman and it's for a competition. If we'd been dancing like that at a party or something then yeah, I would totally get it but it's not the same thing."

"You totally want her."

Mike laughed out loud. "What?"

"Oh please," Puck looked up from his book once more after writing a short comment in the margins. "You've been defending her in Glee for several weeks now and you had this big cheesy smile on your face when you told me that she had kissed you. Don't even try to act as if you're not happy about it. You two are like me and Quinn only a lot worse and not as hot."

"You like her, don't you?"

Puck nodded and scratched his neck. "Well yeah. She told me that she expected things from me. And when Shelby came back we started talking more about Beth and about what she probably expects from us. Quinn made me realize that I can do better, she made me want to make an effort to be better."

"That's great dude." Mike said and looked at the people passing them.

Rachel was not amongst them and he noticed that several people turned around and looked again. Not at him, that Mike was sure of. But not many had seen Puck wearing glasses and reading a book while writing comments in the margin every now and then. Mike had rarely seen that side of him and they were supposed to be friends. A smile appeared on his face. It was a good change.

Change most of the time was good. If someone would have told Mike a few months earlier that he was going to have feelings for Rachel Berry and that she was going to kiss him then he would have laughed. They would get the same reaction if someone told him that she would be quitting Glee and singing altogether. But that had happened and in hindsight Mike could see that Rachel quitting Glee was good not only for Rachel but for him, for Quinn and Puck.

"Speaking of Quinn…" Puck looked up from his book and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "I kind of told her that you were getting shit from the others in Glee. But don't worry about it, I told her not to tell Rachel."

Mike laughed. "And you really think that she's going to listen to you?"

They looked straight into each other's eyes and responded at the same time. "No." then they went back to their respective tasks.

 **GLEE**

Many words could be used to describe Rachel Berry. Most of them showcased only one side of her intense personality. The people she went to school used mostly those words. They called her selfish, weird, ugly, argumentative and on occasion cruel even. No one would ever call her protective. That was understandable in a way because no one had ever seen Rachel Berry stand up for another person.

No one had seen her cry for real. No one had seen Rachel get truly angry at some other reason than because she hadn't been given a solo. That rarely happened and thus people rarely saw her angry. No one saw that changing any time soon. No one could foresee that Rachel Berry would be marching the hallways after lunch with determination evident in her face as she searched for the right person.

"Noah, where is Mike?"

"Glee I think." Puck replied without a second thought. He briefly glanced at Rachel and within seconds looked back. "Did Quinn tell you about Glee?"

"Duh," Rachel said with a shrug. "You can't tell me that you're surprised. She's my best friend and Mike is…" her cheeks turned into a shade of red underneath Puck's gaze. "Someone I care about very much and I am not about to let people step all over him because he's been defending me against those moronic baboons."

Puck smiled at her. "So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm glad you asked Noah. If you follow me, you'll see what I am going to do. It's something that I should have done a very, _very_ , long time ago."

There was something powerful about walking through the corridor with a mission at hand. Rachel heard Puck walking alongside of her and if she glanced at him she would see a big smile on his face; before she pushed the door open to the room where she would find all her tormenters Rachel thought she heard him whisper the word badass.

Mr. Schue and Miss. Corcoran stood in front of the Glee-club members appearing to have been deeply involved in a discussion before the door was abruptly opened. Both of them looked at Rachel as did the rest of the room. Rachel felt her courage failing her when the murmuring began and she was once again in the room that had brought her more pain than joy. A pat on the back and a wink from Noah Puckerman was all it took for the courage to come back in full strength.

"Mr. Schue, Miss. Corcoran I would very much appreciate if I may take some time to say something."

"Are you coming back?" Mr. Schue asked.

Miss. Corcoran glared at him, both hands resting on her hips. "No, she's not coming back to you. If what she has to say has anything to do with Glee, then she's coming to tell us that she is auditioning for my Glee-club."

"I am not rejoining New Directions and I am not joining some new club either. In fact, this has nothing to do with me. This has to do with you people being absolute morons to someone that you used to call your friend." Rachel glanced at Mike who sat in the corner of the room with Puck sitting next to him. "I am going to tell you something that I should have told you a long time ago."

Brittany put one hand in the air and spoke when Rachel looked at her. "That you're a transvestite?"

"No Brittany, I am here to tell you that New Directions is a big fraud." Rachel took a deep breath. "Some of you, not all of you, have always talked about being inclusive and accepting of people. Mr. Schue for example always talked about this place being welcoming to anyone who wants to join. We weren't going to be like the rest of the school. We were supposed to support each other and push each other to become better performers; all you people did to me was make me hate singing. We were going to be kind to each other. We were supposed to be friends. But that has never been the case. People have been bullied both inside and outside this room and I've been quiet for a very long time but I can't be quiet about this anymore. You can bully me as much as you want to but leave Michael alone because he has done nothing wrong. He has been kind and nonjudgmental like we were supposed to be. But the rest of you didn't get the memo."

Santana stood up. "Whatever man hands, look if you weren't such a bitch then maybe…"

"If I weren't such a bitch? Have you looked yourself in the mirror lately? If you ever do, then I'll let you know that the person looking back at you is the biggest bitch in this entire school." Rachel clenched her fists. "I know I'm annoying and I know you don't like me. That's okay, you can hate me all you want. But don't hate Mike, don't be mean to him because he doesn't deserve being treated like that, not because of me."

"Why should we listen to you?" Kurt asked with a bored tone.

Rachel smiled at Mike. "Because you may lose an amazing friend if you don't." She glared at the group. "You shouldn't take him for granted. Because one day you'll walk in and he won't be here anymore. That's all I had to say. Mr. Schue, Miss Corcoran you can continue fighting over whatever dramatic thing is going on between you this week."

Rachel heard Puck laugh as she turned her back on the group and walked out of the room. She felt giddy and had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from screaming. She had stood up for herself. She had stood up for someone else. She had looked into the eyes of the people who had done nothing but torment her for the past few years and she told them exactly what was on her mind. Her smile became wider by the second and eventually it felt as if her skin was going to break.

"Rachel wait," A familiar voice called out and made her turn around. Mike crossed the hallways in a few seconds. He panted lightly when he stopped in front of her. "You didn't have to do that you know."

"Of course, I did." Rachel replied. "People were treating you badly and as your friend I needed to stop them. Its what friends do Michael."

"Friends huh?" Mike said with a smile that made it feel as if her insides were filled with butterflies. "Do you kiss all your friends."

Her cheeks turned red. "Well, my only friends are you, Quinn and Noah. So, the answer to that is no."

"But we're friends." Mike stated. Rachel nodded even if it wasn't a question. "Typical friends hang out, they may hug, they may protect each other and they may even love each other one day. Platonically. Is that what you want because if that's what you want then we're friends."

Rachel took one step closer to him. She reached towards his hands and took them in her own. Then she looked at him. "No."

"No?"

"I don't want that." Rachel took a deep breath. It felt as if her mouth was filled with sand. She couldn't look away from his hypnotizing and calming eyes. "I want to hold your hand, I want to hang out, hug you, protect you and one day I might even love you but I don't want to do that as friends. I don't want you to be just another friend."

Mike smiled when he nodded. "Okay, I won't be."

"Won't be what?"

"Another friend."


	9. Always Love

**Chapter nine:** Always Love

 **Word Count** : 2, 156

 **AN** : I didn't know until I started writing this chapter that it would be the last one. I was planning on making this at least ten chapters long. But I feel like I have done what I set out to do with this fic thus, I present you with the final chapter of Always Love. Thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed, made favorite and followed. I truly appreciate all of you.

* * *

If someone would have told Rachel a few months ago, in the middle of the summer when she had just been rejected by her fellow Glee-clubbers again, that she would be walking into school with Quinn Fabray next to her she would have laughed in their faces.

It was not only a ridiculous idea, it was completely absurd.

If someone would have told her that she would have felt the arms of her boyfriend wrap themselves around her as he snuck up behind her, feel his chin rest upon her head, then there would all of the sudden have been a real chance of her falling down due to laughing so hard.

But that all happened. The Friday before the competition Rachel walked in with Quinn Fabray by her side who told her about the amazing date with Puck. She gestured wildly and Rachel listened attentively, like a real friend did, while saying all the right things in the exact right moment. Quinn's blond hair hung loosely around her head and the smile on her face seemed more genuine than it had in several months. When she reached the end of the story and told Rachel about the kiss her cheeks turned into a shade of pink that without fault made Rachel aw out loud.

"I'm so happy for you." Rachel said once Quinn stopped talking. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt and almost didn't dare look into her eyes.

"Thanks Rachel." The blonde eventually spoke with a slight smile on her face. "I'm heading straight to class but I'll see you at lunch?"

Rachel nodded and waved at Quinn before hurrying along the corridor to her own locker. No one seemed to notice her anymore. Not even the shirt with an animal print on seemed to draw their attention as it had just a few months ago. Rachel opened her locker, it was filled with stars, and began searching through it for her books when she felt, and saw, two arms wrap themselves around her waist. A laugh escaped her parted lips as she felt someone lean their chin onto her head.

Rachel's smile grew as she darted her eyes upward and saw strands of black hair. "Hello Michael."

"Hello Rachel." He answered mockingly with an equally formal voice. "How are you doing this morning of the day before the competition?"

The competition. Rachel and Mike had perfected their routine. She had spent more hours practicing dance a day than she ever had when she was singing. She knew every step like the back of her hand and the feeling of Mike's hands against her skin was so familiar to her that she almost didn't remember a time when it hadn't been.

"I am doing very well." Rachel replied jokingly and with a much softer voice she added. "How are you?"

After the confrontation with New Directions Rachel had decided to stay out of the drama the club undoubtedly came with. She didn't ask what was going on and only gave her thoughts when asked for them by Noah and Mike; and they had made a habit out of not asking her for advice of any kind. That didn't mean that she wasn't concerned about what was going on behind those closed doors. She rarely thought about it but when she did it was hard not to be concerned regarding how they had taken her reprimand when she, more or less, demanded that they treat Mike better.

Mike's hold around her waist loosened when she turned around. Rachel held her books in front of her chest and backed into the now closed locker; so that she could rest her back against it. Mike took one step closer to her and removed almost all distance between them. He gently moved a strand of hair, that had escaped, and put it behind her ear. He liked to think that he knew Rachel Berry after having been her friend and now dating her for a while. Maybe he didn't know everything but some things. He knew that some sentences, some questions, needed to be listened to extra carefully because she didn't always say everything that was on her mind. Like in that exact moment.

"Everything is fine." He replied with a smile on his face unable to keep away the warm feeling that spread through his chest every time it became extra clear how much she worried about him. "You need to stop worrying so much Rach."

Rachel rolled her eyes, clearly hearing the amused tone in his voice, and stood on her toes to kiss his lips. "I will never stop worrying or caring about you."

Mike's smile grew. "Is that so?"

Rachel looked back at him with glimmering eyes that shone of confidence. "Yes, it is very much so."

 **GLEE**

Quinn Fabray was nervous. It annoyed her to no end. She was not supposed to be nervous. It didn't matter that she and Noah had been on a date. She had been on dates plenty of times. She had been kissed a lot and this was not the first time she had to sit in the same classroom as one of her dates. There was no reason for her to be nervous. Yet she was. She couldn't decide how to sit with her legs and she kept moving her pencils from one place to another on her desk. She wasn't sure what bothered her more; the fact that she was nervous or the fact that she couldn't sit still. Her feelings became even more illogical when she reminded herself of the fact that she and Noah had a child together. The fact that they didn't have custody of her didn't in any way mean that they weren't her biological parents. They had done so much more than kissed. And still…

"Hello beautiful." The sound of Noah Puckerman woke Quinn from her thoughts. The feeling of his lips against her cheeks made her cheeks turn into an even deeper shade of pink than they already were in. "I brought you something."

Noah sat down by the desk next to her he put a paper flower on her desk. Quinn raised one eyebrow as she carefully took the small flower and looked at it; she couldn't and didn't try to hide her smile.

"I made it myself." Noah added and winked at her as he leaned back into his chair. Quinn was no longer surprised to see his books on his desk nor the fact that he wore glasses.

The fact that Noah had gotten her something wasn't surprising. He had done it before. But Quinn found herself looking at his big hands and then at the small delicate paper flower in front of her. It was hard to believe that those hands had made something so beautiful and delicate. It was especially hard to believe that Noah Puckerman, resident bad boy, had taken the time to make a paper flower for her.

"It's very beautiful." Quinn leaned forward and boldly kissed his lips. "Thank you very much."

In her mind, it was a bold move and still for reasons she couldn't understand. They had kissed before. They had done so much more than just kissing and still there was something deeply nerve-racking about kissing him. Because the first time they had been drunk and it hadn't meant anything. This time it meant everything.

"So, how was Glee?" Quinn asked after a while.

Noah shrugged. "Miss. Corcoran realized that she wasn't going to succeed in creating her own club and talked to Mr. Schue; they decided that they were going to co-run New Directions. So, that drama is now out of the way. But we're all waiting for the next big thing to come out and screw things up again."

"Yeah well," Quinn took a deep breath. "Whatever drama happens after this it can't be worse than what has already happened. Two members gone in the course of, what, a month? What could be more dramatic than that?"

Noah shrugged as his smile grew. "Oh, I don't know, maybe two members quitting New Directions at the same time?"

Quinn's eyes doubled in size. "No way." She pushed him to get his attention. "You and Mike are quitting? Why would you do that?"

Noah never got the time to answer her. Because in that moment the teacher walked in and told them to open their books and look at page 251. And for the remainder of class Quinn had to see that smug smile that annoyed her to no end while simultaneously putting butterflies in her stomach.

 **GLEE**

Rachel looked at the text message once more.

 _We'll be right out_. – Michael

She sat on the hood of Quinn's car with Quinn next to her. The blond had a frown on her face. It didn't make her look angry or nervous; Rachel thought she looked disappointed as if she was missing out on something. Rachel had no idea what that something would be.

When Mike had told her to wait for him and Noah after school she had asked him if he had forgotten about Glee. He didn't give her an answer. A smirk flashed across his face and he leaned down to kiss her before walking down the corridor; she was going to opposite direction.

"So," Rachel started and earned the full attention of the blonde next to her. "I never thanked you for quitting Glee."

"And I'm not going to let you thank me either." Quinn replied quickly. She bumped Rachel with her shoulder and forced the brunette to look up at her smiling face. "At first I joined Glee because, to be honest, I wanted to make sure you didn't take Finn from me. Then it became fun and I felt accepted even when I was pregnant. But after Beth was born I kind of realized that this acceptance they preach is phony. New Directions is in that sense worse than the rest of the school because they claim to be something they're not. It's a group of hypocrites. If you're going to be accepting then accept everyone."

Rachel smiled. "I'm grateful regardless of reason that caused you to quit. And…" Rachel's voice broke. "I'm really happy that you're my friend because these past months would have been unbearable if it wasn't for you."

Quinn tilted her head to the side. Her eyes glistened and her lips quivered in spite of her smiling. "Likewise babe. Who thought that we would ever end up here huh?"

"Well, I sure as hell didn't." a third voice spoke causing the two girls to look away from each other. Noah smirked at them. "Did we ruin the moment because we can go back inside until you're done."

Rachel pointed first at Noah and then Mike. "You two have Glee." Mike shook his head as he stood in front of her with his hands resting on the car; one hand on either side of Rachel's body. "You don't have Glee?"

Mike shrugged. "You probably haven't heard yet but Puckerman and I just quit."

Rachel's eyes widened. "You quit?"

"We quit." Mike said nodding.

"Why did you quit?" Rachel asked, shock still written across her face. "You didn't quiet because of me, did you?"

"We quit because they are…"

"Assholes." Noah added which resulted in Quinn rolling her eyes at him.

Mike laughed and nodded. "Yeah, we quit because they are assholes and because it's no fun sitting in the background and never being asked your opinion. Why should I spend hours upon hours with a group of people that doesn't value my opinions when I can be with someone who does? Besides, in twenty years it won't matter if we were members of a Glee-club in school or not. If you were cool or not won't matter, the activities won't matter and no one's going to congratulate you for voluntarily doing something you disliked. None of it will matter."

The smile on Rachel's face was unlike anything Mike had ever seen. Her eyes were glimmering and he could see all her teeth; the slight quiver in her lips told him that she would have smiled larger if she could. Mike didn't notice when his own smile grew but he felt the butterflies inside his stomach.

"Look at you being all deep." Rachel commented as she looked at Mike; it felt in that moment as if they were the only two people in the world. "So, what does matter in this world Mr. Chang?"

"I'm a very deep man Rach, I'm surprised you didn't know that." Rachel rolled her eyes and Mike laughed. "What matters in this world huh? Why go easy… What matters is friendship, happiness, doing what you love and not what other people want you to, being yourself…"

"And love?"

Mike winked at her and moved closer to remove all distance between them before gently kissing her. "Always love."

 **The end**


End file.
